Google doodle celebrates Dr Zohra Kazi’s 108th birthday

Search engine giant Google is celebrating the 108th birthday of  Dr Zohra Begum Kazi, a 20th-century pioneer for women in medicine on the Indian subcontinent..

Google Doodle made an alteration on its Bangladeshi homepage on Thursday, showing an imaginary image of Dr Zohra Begum Kazi.

At a time when the medical field was reserved primarily for men, Dr Kazi broke barriers with an unwavering dedication to patient care and fierce advocacy for female education.

Zohra Begum Kazi was born into an aristocratic medical family on this day in 1912 in Rajnandgaon, British India. Her father was a physician who encouraged his daughters to break from cultural norms by pursuing careers in medicine. A brilliant student, Kazi graduated in 1935 with a bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery from Delhi's Lady Hardinge Medical College for Women.

Over the following 13 years, Dr Kazi developed her expertise as an assistant surgeon in various hospitals across British India. In the wake of India's partition in 1947, she relocated to Dhaka, present-day Bangladesh, where she joined the Medical College and Hospital as a resident surgeon.

Following post-graduate studies, she rose to the top of her field, becoming a professor and head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Dr Kazi worked to redefine women's attitudes towards medicine, providing door-to-door care to countless women who were previously intimidated by the male-dominated world of medical care.

Throughout her life, Dr Kazi committed herself to charitable and educational causes and through her pioneering example helped inspire future generations of women to become doctors, just like her.

Because of her long selfless service to the cause of humanity, Dr Zohra Begum Kazi was awarded the Tamgha-e-Pakistan (1964), Begum Rokeya Padak (2002) and Ekushay Padak (2008).

Dr Zohra Begum Kazi died on 7 November 2007.