Kozhikode: A nurse’s duty to their wards is a sacred one. In the face of an epidemic a nurse’s mettle is truly tested and it is a test that one Kerala nurse bravely took but unfortunately, did not live through.
Lini, a 31-year-old mother of two (aged seven and two), was part of the team that treated the first known victim of the Nipah virus, Mohammed Sadik at the Perambara hospital in Kozhikode, Kerala.
Before she died, Lini managed to pen a letter to her husband in which she said that she would not be able to meet him and asked him to take care of their two children.
The letter read: “I think I am almost on my way; I don’t think I’ll be able to meet you. Please look after our children. Take them with you to the Gulf; don’t be all alone like our father, please.”
This heartbreaking letter went viral on social media prompting the Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan to condole her death on Facebook. He wrote on his wall: “The loss of Lini, who had sacrificed her life for nursing a patient, is a grief for all of us. Lini’s sacrifice is incomparable. It is painful that Lini met with this tragedy while she was sincerely doing her duty. We, the people of the state, share the pain and loss of Lini’s family, friends and colleagues.”
Lini, who worked at the EMS Memorial Cooperative hospital in Perambra, was a daily wage worker who had only joined the hospital in September last year. After her passing, her body was not handed over to her family for fear of the disease spreading, even though test results of her blood and bodily fluid samples hadn’t yet been received. Lini was cremated after consultation with her family members, in an electronic crematorium as a precautionary measure.
Speaking to the reporters, Sajish said that they had to ask the police for help to take Lini’s body as some ambulance staff refused to carry her body in the vehicle.
Lini’s husband and children, along with others who had been in contact with her are presently under observation and tests are being run on their blood samples.
Three other nurses, who were attending to the Nipah virus patients have contracted the disease and have been referred to Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.
So far, ten people in Kerala have died as a result of the virus.
