Dr. Vimala Sood, the first woman dentist of undivided India, passed away on Sunday. The Department of Medical Education and Research Punjab, Punjab Dental Council, and leading dentists of the state have paid tribute to her. Dr. Puneet Girdhar, Joint Director, Medical Education and Research, Punjab paid tribute on behalf of the Department of Medical Education and Research, Punjab.
Dr. Vimala Sood
He said that Dr. Vimla Sood was the senior-most registered dentist with the Punjab Dental Council. Her life and work have been an inspiration to all the practicing doctors and budding dentists, especially the women dentists of the country. Secretary IDA Punjab State and Member Dental Council of India Dr. Sachin Dev Mehta informed that Dr. Vimla Sood was born in 1922 and graduated from De Montmorency College of Dentistry, Lahore in 1944, now known as Punjab Dental College, Known as Lahore.
Dr. Vimala Sood
She was from a family of doctors who encouraged her to go into dentistry. She was the only woman in her batch of 30 students in Lahore. She went to the US for her internship and later completed her master’s degree in pediatric dentistry from the University of Minnesota in 1955.
After partition, Dr. Vimla Sood moved to Chandigarh. She worked at Wellington Hospital (now Ram Manohar Lohia), where she used to visit villages in a mobile van. Later she worked at Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry. She told that she was the first woman dentist of undivided India.
