R. ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, APRIL 3
There cannot be a better tribute to Florence Nightingale this year-2020, whose 200th birth anniversary has been declared as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife” by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Nearly 12 lakh nurses in the country are celebrating this by encountering one of the worst medical crisis of history, the spread of pandemic COVID-19.
When 54 contract workers of Indira Gandhi Government Medical College in the Union Territory of Puducherry were sacked for their dereliction of duty, a nurse with 8-month-old pregnancy accepted the TN government’s offer letter to join duty in Ramanathapuram district.
Despite her 8-month-old pregnancy, the woman braved to travel from Trichirappalli to Ramanathapuram along with her husband in a car for 250 km after getting proper permission from the authorities in times of lockdown.
The 25-year old S. Vinothini, a native of Ramanathapuram working as a nurse in a private hospital in Tiruchirappalli had received a call from the Joint Director of Medical Services, Ramanathapuram that she was selected as a nurse in the wake of COVID-19 and she has to join duty within three days as was instructed by the Chief Minister a few days ago.
Immediately on receiving the call from the JD, the young woman approached the Tourism Minister Vellamandi N Natarajan with the help of the DYFI district secretary, who in turn instructed the district collector to permit her to travel to Ramanathapuram on Thursday.
The nurse reached Ramanathapuram around 3.30 p.m. and joined duty at a Primary Health Centre.
The nurses involved in a high risk duty cannot practice social distancing like others. On the contrary, nurses, once they return from the hospital, have to practice social distancing at home to protect their immediate family members.
In Spain, one of the worst coronavirus-hit countries, around 15 percent of infected persons include health workers who were treating patients suffering from this new kind of virus.
