Thirty-one-year-old nurse Lini PN’s death on Monday while attending to patients infected with the NiV (Nipah) virus at the Perambra Taluk Hospital, near Kozhikode Kerala, has evoked sorrow and fear in the state, and shocked the nursing community.
The outbreak of Nipah virus in Kerala has so far claimed six lives, while 60 people are under observation.
Lini, who was working at the Taluk Hospital, was on a night duty when the first of the patients infected with symptoms of Nipah virus arrived at the hospital.
Lini cared for the patients on Thursday last week before they were shifted to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital for further treatment. Her patients, two brothers and a relative, died soon after, while Lini too became unwell from Friday.
Lini’s husband Sajish, who works in the Gulf, had contacted her, but according to a report published in Malayala Manorama, she had told him that she was unsure whether she would be able to see him again. She reportedly wrote to him, asking him to look after their two children and take them to the Bahrain.
“Sajeeshetta..am almost on the way... I don't think I can meet you again... sorry... please take the little ones to Gulf. They shouldn't be alone like our father... with lots of love and... kisses..” she wrote in the emotional letter.
In fact, she had nursed the younger son Siddharth, 2, before coming to the hospital for the night duty.
When Lini was taken to the Kozhikode hospital and was informed that she had caught the Nipah virus, she asked the hospital authority not to allow her two sisters to see, citing the danger.
Lini worked at the Perambra Taluk Hospital for the past six years.
“She was a dedicated nurse,” said Prince Koyili, who had worked with her previously at a private hospital, told Outlook.
Besides Lini, two more nurses have been exposed to the virus.
People on social media are also calling her a "martyr" for her sacrifice.
Meanwhile, Dr Kafeel Khan from Uttar Pradesh, who was recently walked out of jail after being arrested in connection with the death of infants at a state-run hospital in Gorakhpur last year, has offered to serve at Kozhikode district in the wake of the outbreak.
Extending his wish to serve at Calicut Medical College Hospital, Khan, a paediatrician from Gorakhpur, has reached out to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan via Facebook.
Responding to it, Vijayan said the state government is more than happy to allow persons like Dr Kafeel to work with the state.
Libin Thomas, the state president of the Indian Nurses Association, said Lini was cremated quickly on Monday so the infection wouldn't spread.
Libin added that the nurses in India work under terrible conditions and they are not given the prerequisite safety material such “masks and gloves while attending to the patients.”
