Dr Armida Fernandez, neonatologist behind Asia’s first human milk bank, awarded Padma Shri

While the milk bank — which contributed significantly to reducing infant mortality — is among her most well-known achievements, Dr Fernandez’s career spans several pioneering initiatives. She played a key role in introducing one of India’s earliest doctoral programmes in neonatology, served as dean of LTMG Hospital, also known as Sion Hospital, and expanded healthcare beyond hospital walls to slum communities through SNEHA. In later years, she went on to establish one of Mumbai’s few free palliative care facilities.

“Dr Fernandez was first my teacher, then my colleague, then the head of the department of neonatology, and then dean of the Sion Hospital for three years before she retired in 2001,” said Dr Jayshree Mondkar, former dean of the hospital and a close associate.

Despite resistance to the concept of feeding infants with donated human milk — an unfamiliar and largely unaccepted practice at the time — Dr Fernandez persisted. The milk bank initially ran for five years with support from private donors before the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation took it over. She also introduced low-cost innovations, such as the use of overhead lamps to provide warmth to newborns, Dr Mondkar said.

“She allowed the entry of mothers in the neonatal unit to participate in the care of their babies, at a time when most doctors frowned on it with the fear it would increase the risk of infection. This was proved false, and it is well established now that it is protective for the babies,” Dr Mondkar said.

“When she became dean, she summoned all of the heads of the departments to build a vision for the medical college and hospital,” said Dr Shanti Pantvaidya, then head of the department of anaesthesiology. “That was entirely unique and exciting, because no one had ever done that before.”

In 1999, Dr Fernandez took healthcare beyond hospital settings by launching SNEHA with a group of philanthropists and neonatologists. The initiative, focused on urban health in informal settlements, was a departure from the largely rural-centric public health discourse of the time.

“It began with working in maternal and newborn health and prevention of violence against women and children, and it grew to include childcare and nutrition, and then spread to adolescent health,” Dr Pantvaidya said. “In all of this, she built up these institutions and then handed them over to others to run without any possessiveness.”

Today, SNEHA has a workforce of over 500 people and works across slum communities in Mumbai.

“It is an extremely enjoyable process to work with someone who has genuine concern, a vision and the perseverance to see a solution through. Dr Fernandez is extremely deserving of the Padma Shri, and the award is a heartening moment that perhaps there is scope for goodness after all,” Dr Pantvaidya said.

In 2017, Dr Fernandez came full circle by starting a free palliative care facility in memory of her daughter Romila, who had died a few years earlier from cancer. Largely volunteer-run and open to all, the facility provides emotional and medical care to patients with life-limiting illnesses.