KOCHI: Surgeon Rear Admiral Nirmala Kannan, one of the few woman officers to have made it to the rank of Rear Admiral or above in the Indian Navy and the first woman officer in the Indian Armed Forces to graduate from the National Defence College, New Delhi, assumed charge as the Command Medical Officer (CMO) of the Southern Naval Command, Kochi, on Thursday.
Rear Admiral Nirmala Kannan is the wife of ViceAdmiral B Kannan and younger sister of India's Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao. A recipient of the Vishisht Seva Medal (VSM), Rear Admiral Kannan was commissioned into the Indian Navy in August 1977. A postgraduate in obstetrics and gynaecology, she is an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC), Wellington.
She had earlier worked in major hospitals of the Indian Navy as well as the Armed Forces Clinic, New Delhi. Notable tenures of the Admiral include Command of Navy hospital INHS Kalyani and Executive Officer of INHS Kalyani and INHS Asvini. She was the Executive Officer of INHS Kalyani from 1995 to 1997.
Nirmala Kannan's son, Capt Akshai Kannan, is a dentist with the Army Medical Corps. A musician, Nirmala Kannan, along with her sister Nirupama Rao, used to perform at college functions in Bangalore University in the 1960s and 70s. The two were known as the 'Menon sisters.' However, music took a backseat with one of the sisters joining the Indian Foreign Service and the other the Armed Forces.