Y. V. Phatak

Yashwant Vishwanath Phatak M. D. (1910 - 1993) was an Indian obstetrician and gynaecologist from Pune, Maharashtra. He was elected as the first president of the Pune Obstetrics and Gynecology Society in 1953.
Phatak was born the eldest of four brothers. His family was of Chitpavan brahmin, aristocractic origin. His father was a Gandhian and participated actively during the Indian independence movement, during which time Phatak opened a maternity ward on Tilak Road, in Pune.
He notably participated in Mahatma Gandhi's Salt March in 1930, and financially and medically aided Senapati Bapat for the Indian underground resistance against British rule in the early 1940s, and further taught at the Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan Samstha in Hingane.
Originally a professor of midwifery until 1948, Phatak worked in the development of contraceptives for the Indian masses between 1949 and 1950, a controversial field of study at the time, founding the Dr. Y. V. Phatak Hospital in Sadashiv Peth, Pune for maternity healthcare. His work in the field was lauded by the Government of Maharashtra beginning in the 1970s.
After outliving his wife Indumati (d. 1980), Phatak died in 1993. He was survived by four daughters. He was a distant relation of Ashutosh Phatak, Panditrao Agashe, and Dnyaneshwar Agashe. He was a descendant of Ramchandra Phatak, brother to Chimnaji Phatak and uncle to Balkrishna Phatak.

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