Farewell to Mayiladuthurai’s ‘Florence Nightingale’

Phyllis Rodrigues worked at the Dharmapuram Adheenam Free Maternity Home for over 35 years

Mayiladuthurai town bid a tearful farewell to its own “Florence Nightingale”, who recently died after decades of maternity service to the local population. Phyllis Rodrigues, 98, was a gynaecologist at the Dharmapuram Adheenam Free Maternity Home for over 35 years. Dr. Rodrigues was born in Australia in 1923 to an Australian couple, and after spending her early years there, she moved to Chennai to study medicine at the Madras Medical College in 1946. Some of her relatives had moved to the then Madras and recommended the college for studying medicine. Following her graduation as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr. Rodrigues had the opportunity to serve at the Dharmapuram Adheenam Free Maternity Home, set up in 1951. The then head of Dharmapuram Adheenam is said to have approached Dr. Rodrigues and asked her to serve as a doctor at the hospital. From 1955 to around 1990, she worked as the chief doctor at the hospital and lived on the Town Station Road.