Sulagitti Narasamma

Sulagitti Narasamma (1920 – 25 December 2018) was an Indian midwife from Pavagada town, Tumakuru district of Karnataka state. She performed more than 20,000 traditional deliveries free of charge over a 70-year period of service in deprived regions of Karnataka with no medical facilities.

Biography Narasamma was born in Krishnapura, Pavagada village in Tumkur district in Adi Jambava community family. She did not attend school and grew up illiterate; she married her husband, Anjinappa, at the age of 12. She had 12 children, although four died when young, and 36 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was also reportedly able to detect the pulse of the foetus while in the womb, without the use of any instruments.

By 2018, and at the age of 97 years old, Narasamma had helped to deliver more than 15,000 babies, and has been described as 'the go-to midwife of Krishnapura'. 2013: National Citizen award of India 2014: Honorary doctorate from Tumkur University 2018: Padma Shri

Death Narasamma was admitted to the Siddaganga Hospital and Research Centre in November 2018 and was later referred to BGS Hospitals on 29 November 2018. She died at BGS Gleneagles Global Hospitals in Kengeri, Bengaluru, Karnataka, on 25 December 2018 at the age of 98 of chronic lung disease.

On 25 December 2018, Narasamma's body was kept at Glass House in Tumakuru for the public to pay tributes, and on 26 December 2018 was buried with full state honours at Gangasandra village on the outskirts of the Tumakuru city. Half acre of the one-acre plot was set aside for a memorial.