Rupa Tewari: classical Indian singer and sexual health doctor who championed women and children

In the 1990s, when there were few female Indian doctors in Scotland, Rupasree Tewari wore a sari to work every day, describing it as her version of a business suit. Although she found attitudes towards immigrant doctors challenging, she persisted. For more than 20 years she worked in sexual and reproductive health, child protection, and school medicine. She led clinics for contraception, family planning, and menopause and pre-termination counselling. She trained in video colposcopy for the medical examination of victims of sexual abuse and organised Saturday morning drop-in clinics for teenagers. She also served as senior clinical medical officer in community child health, overseeing the care of around 5000 children as school doctor of institutions around Kirkcaldy. Her former colleague Linda Gillespie, a school nurse, said, “I remember Rupa as a professional and compassionate person. The young people often commented on how kind and gentle she was.” Tewari also tutored medical students, GP trainees, and nurses from the universities of Edinburgh, Dundee, St Andrews, and Sheffield in contraceptive counselling, intrauterine device and implant …