BENGALURU: PADMASHRI awardee Sulagatti Narasamma was admitted to Fortis hospital here on Cunningham Road for breathing difficulties on Monday. Dr K S Satish, consultant pulmonologist, Fortis Hospital, said, “The 98-year-old was diagnosed for lung congestion and chronic respiratory failure. She was provided oxygen support and nebulizer to manage her lung congestion. Her condition is stable now.”
She has delivered around 1,500 babies for 70 years in the backward areas of Tumakuru district since 1940. She started at the age of 16 and does not have a single unsuccessful delivery against her name. She is trained under her grandmother Marigamma and was married at the age of 12 to Anjinappa.
The first delivery that she assisted was that of her aunt’s and thereafter assisted women in Andhra Pradesh, too. She is said to have nurtured newborns for more than a week after delivery. She is also a recipient of Rajyotsava Award. A lesson on her life has been prescribed in a Class IX text book. Around 180 women have been trained under her in assisted childbirth, including her daughter Jayamma. The decision to award the Padmashri to her came last Thursday.