Mary Poonen Lukose

Mary Poonen Lukose (2 August 1886 - 2 October 1976) was an Indian gynecologist, obstetrician and the first female Surgeon General in India. She was the founder of a Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Nagarcoil and the X-Ray and Radium Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, served as the head of the Health Department in the Princely State of Travancore and was the first woman legislator of the state.

Early life and education Mary Poonen was born to a rich Anglican Syrian Christian family as the only child on 2 August 1886 in Aymanam—a small village later made famous by being the setting of the novel The God of Small Things— in the princely state of Travancore (modern day Kerala), in the British Indian Empire. Her father, T. E. Poonen, was a medical doctor, the first medical graduate in Travancore and the Royal Physician of Travancore state. and also worked as the superintendent of the hospital, replacing a westerner who had returned to her native place after marriage. A year later, she married lawyer Kunnukuzhiyil Kurivilla Lukose (K. K. Lukose)

In 1922 she was nominated to the legislative assembly of Travancore, known as Sree Chitra State Council, becoming the first woman legislator in the state. She continued at the hospital till 1938 during which time she was nominated to the state assembly continuously till 1937. The first woman surgeon general in the US was appointed only in 1990. a position she retained till 1968. She also founded the X-Ray and Radium Institute in Thiruvananthapuram. They had two children, the eldest, Dr Grace Lukose (1919-1954), a medical doctor and assistant Professor of Surgery at Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, who died in her mid 30s in an accident, trying to free a relation whose hair had become entangled in an electric fan. The youngest, son K. P. Lukose, grew up to become a consul general, permanent representative of India to the United Nations and the Indian ambassador to Bulgaria.