the goan I network
PANAJI
Goa’s first neuropsychiatrist who played a pioneering role in the field of mental health, Dr Maria Adélia Peres e Costa, fondly known as Dr Adélia Costa, passed away on December 10 in the midst of close family in Miramar. She was 91.
Founder-director of the Portuguese established Abade Faria Mental Hospital at Altinho, which was later re-christened as the Institute of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour (IPHB) and is now situated in Bambolim, Dr Adélia was instrumental in modernising to the extent possible the hospital. She quit the top post after liberation in March 1962.
Thereafter she had a short stint in Portugal but returned to Goa and set up a private practice in Panaji. She became a household name for mental health solutions not just in the capital city but across Goa and even beyond. She retired nearly 10 years ago in 2009.
Dr Adelia did her early studies in Goa and then went on to graduate in neurology and psychiatry in Lisbon. She also held the distinction of being the first woman neuro-psychiatrist in Portugal and her colonies.
She worked selflessly for over half a century in a distinguished practice through which she appeared to have the Midas touch and also kept up with the latest developments in her field of specialisation.
Medical professionals and others paid glowing tributes to her contributions to Goa in the field of medicine and mental health.
“Dr Adélia was not great because she was an astounding neuro-psychiatrist or clinician, or a loving aunt and friend. She was spectacular because she was a genuinely beautiful human being who knew how to treat your mind and touch your heart,” said noted city-based physician Dr Oscar Rebello.
Meanwhile, family sources said the funeral services will be held in her native Loutolim parish and the cortege will leave her ancestral home there at 3.30 pm today (Thursday) for the Saviour of
the World Church, followed by burial.
