New Delhi, August 31: In a tragic incident, pioneering cardiologist Dr Sivaramakrishna Iyer Padmavati died due to coronavirus at the age of 103. According to a Hindustan Times report, Padmavati had established the country’s first cardiac care unit at Delhi’s Govind Ballabh Pant hospital.

She was diagnosed with Covid-19 11 days ago and was admitted to the National Heart Institute (NHI), which she had founded in 1981. She was put on ventilator support but suffered a cardiac arrest Doctor Padmavati was born in Myanmar, she fled to India after the Japanese invasion during World War II and became the country’s first woman cardiologist. Kamal Rani Varun, Cabinet Minister in Uttar Pradesh, Dies of COVID-19 in Lucknow.

Dr Padmavati was awarded India's second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan in 1992. During the 1970s, when she was at the peak of her career, she was the chief administrator of three major institutions at the same time - Maulana Azad Medical College, Lok Nayak Hospital and G.B.Pant hospital, a position never held by anyone before or after her.

She was also popularly referred to as the ‘Godmother of cardiology’, and was known for her extensive research on rheumatic heart disease, a condition that permanently damages the heart valves.

 

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 31, 2020 07:37 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).