‘The Indian Navy has given me the opportunity to be the best version of myself’

“After a successful command, I could not have been happier than to hand over the Flagship Hospital (INHS Asvini) of the Indian Navy to a fellow woman Flag Officer. It is indeed a defining moment as it tells the nation and the world that women in India have now reached significant numbers in the higher ranks of the Armed Forces and that merit and not gender is the basis of appointments,” explains Surgeon Rear Admiral Sheila Mathai, the senior-most girl officer in the Indian Navy.

On January 30, she handed over command of INHS Asvini to Surgeon Rear Admiral Arti Sarin, a singular occasion in the annals of the armed forces in India, for it concerned two girl Flag Officers.

Excerpts from an electronic mail interview.

What impressed you to be part of the Navy?

Coming from an Army background, I used to be uncovered to the Armed Forces from childhood. My father was a surgeon in the Indian Army and handed away simply earlier than I joined faculty. He impressed me to change into an Armed Forces physician, to serve each sufferers and the nation. That was the cause why I selected to be part of the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune.

The Navy was my alternative of service as the white uniform appeared very interesting! I used to be additionally eager to work in the largest hospital of the Navy, the INHS Asvini.

What have been the challenges in the office?

When I joined the Services in 1984, the solely ladies in the Armed Forces have been medical doctors, nurses and dentists. There have been points about posting ladies medical doctors to distant areas and on board ships. In the first 15 years of my service, ladies officers wore saris as half of the uniform, which made marching and different army actions like climbing ladders, and boarding ships troublesome.

The Navy was the first amongst the three providers to change the uniforms of their ladies officers to be the similar as that of the male officers. This made us really feel an element of the service slightly than standing aside.

I’ve seen the paradigm adjustments in attitudes and perceptions towards ladies officers in the Armed Forces, significantly in the previous 20 years. Now ladies officers are inducted into virtually all the branches of the three providers. Previously ladies weren’t provided Permanent Commission (PC), thus stopping equal opportunity. Now ladies are being given PC in virtually all the branches during which they’re permitted to be part of.

Surgeon Rear Admiral Sheila Mathai on a caving expedition in Meghalaya
 
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Special arrangement

Women have proven that they’ll carry out the hardest duties, if given an opportunity and the Indian Navy has all the time inspired this. The all-women expedition on INSV Tarini is one of many such examples.

We now appeared ahead to the induction of ladies troopers, sailors, and air warriors into our Armed Forces as effectively. While working in the hospitals and sickbays with sufferers, we didn’t face any challenges completely different from these of ladies medical doctors elsewhere. Occasionally, short-term duties to smaller, extra distant locations with out different ladies round would be troublesome. But as a result of we have been so few, we have been all the time protected. Sometimes male medical doctors resented this as they felt that we have been being given sheltered appointments whereas they confronted the hardships. However, as ladies, we have been all the time eager to show that we might do exactly as a lot as our male colleagues if given an opportunity and this was slowly understood and accepted in order that these conditions grew to become lesser and lesser and now don’t exist.

What has been your takeaway as a physician and Naval Officer of the Indian Navy?

The Indian Navy and the Armed Forces Medical Services are wonderful profession choices for girls. I’ve had each opportunity to specialise and super-specialise in my discipline. As a paediatrician and neonatologist, I’ve had the opportunity to excel each as a physician and a medical trainer, having additionally gone again to my alma mater as professor for a pair of tenures.

As an Officer, have been given a quantity of administrative roles to carry out together with Director, Institute of Naval Medicine and Command Medical Officer, Eastern Naval Command. I used to be given Command of the Flagship hospital of the Indian Navy for the previous 15 months and have steered it via the COVID disaster. It is now at the centre of the vaccination drive in the Navy. At no occasion was my gender ever a problem. I’ve labored shoulder-to-shoulder with my male colleagues and have commanded giant numbers of women and men with the expertise and expertise that I’ve acquired from the Indian Navy.

I’ve now taken over as Command Medical Officer Western Naval Command, an appointment that oversees the medical property of the fundamental Operational Command of the Indian Navy. Here too, there’s a full gender-neutral surroundings and the probability to work and thrive.

I’ve additionally had ample alternatives to bask in sport and journey actions. The Indian Navy has given me the opportunity to be the best version of myself. Running the half marathon, caving expeditions in Meghalaya and crusing are all sports activities that I take pleasure in.

Your message to ladies who aspire to be part of the Armed Forces…

With its ethos of self-discipline, transparency and equity, the Armed Forces is one of the best choices for girls. Women are handled with equal respect and are given an opportunity to present their capabilities in a secure and organised surroundings. The feeling of being half of a Service that has the final purpose of serving the nation is inspiring and alternatives to do good and reside a significant life are immense.

At the similar time, the Armed Forces additionally expects you to be robust and face many challenges and adjustments that go together with the job. This truly makes you higher outfitted to face any drawback in life and makes you a stronger, extra succesful individual.

Just a few phrases about your loved ones…

My husband, Surg Cmde (retd) KI Mathai, additionally served for 35 years as a Neurosurgeon in the Indian Navy. We have a daughter who graduated from St Stephen’s and Harvard Business School and works in Healthcare with McKinsey.