NAGAPATTINAM: God cannot be everywhere, so she created angels called nurses. Draped in a white saree and a raincoat, M Sudha, a 46-year-old village health nurse (VHN), rode her moped through knee-deep water and reached the Primary Health Care Center in Chandrapadi. She was there to give a vaccination to a newborn. The constant downpour due to cyclones Burevi and Nivar in Nagapattinam district, failed to deter the will power of these angels, whose courage stood unabated.
Though used to floods, Sudha was a little nervous this time, while crossing the bridge across Nandalar River. “The hamlets became flooded after heavy rains. I managed to reach almost 50 babies and gave medicines on time,” says the tsunami survivor who is also a mother of two. Sharing her most satisfying experience, Geetha (43) says, “I travelled to Panangattur during November third week. It was raining and a woman had delivered her second child through caesarian.
I went to her house and removed the sutures from her abdomen.” Geetha resides in quarters next to her Health Sub Center in Kattumavadi and reached nine hamlets in two panchayats- Kattumavadi and Kothamangalam in Thirumarugal block. “I was given the duty to attend to anti-natal and post-natal mothers.” She says adding that she fell from her moped a lot of times but that never stopped her from doing her duty. Meet 41-year-old S Rani, a mother of two, for whom distance doesn’t matter.
She travels to 16 hamlets in three panchayats – Raranthimangalam, Vadakarai and Kottur– from Raranthimangalam. “I have to ride dozens of km every day. It gets challenging in monsoon. Many families do not wish to come out with newborns on rainy days.
So I reach them as I do not want the babies to miss vaccine deadlines,” says Rani. Dr A Liakath Ali, the District Epidemiologist of Nagapattinam, says, “We have about 300 such staffs such as VPNs, SHNs and CHNs. We are happy that we served people during the calamities.”