KOCHI: The patients at the pain and palliative care centre of the Ernakulam General hospital got a big surprise when the students of Government Girl’s High School at Ernakulam South walked in with ‘Onakodi’ on Wednesday. The students’ gifts lit up the patients’ faces. The students interacted with them without any inhibitions. The Onakodi programme was organised by the National Service Scheme (NSS) of the school in association with the Rotary Club of Cochin. They distributed the clothes to around 100 cancer patients.
Asked whether they were a bit apprehensive while meeting the cancer patients, Divya P V, a plus one student, said, “No. My grandmother died of cancer. Hence, I knew about the disease,”. Divya Bharati, another student, said that they asked us to pray for them. Sivaraman, the headmaster of the school, said that they had been contemplating since past few months about doing something for the cancer patients. “When the opportunity came, we just plunged in,” he said.This is not for the first time that the school has done something exemplary. Earlier, they had helped many destitute homes. “We actually wanted to distribute food. But when we inquired, the authorities said that we have to register before hand as there were many in the queue to provide food,” he said. The headmaster said that when the Rotary club came to know about their intention to distribute food, they lent a helping hand.
“We will help patients in the future too. There are tonnes of papers and even answer papers in the school. We will sell them to obtain the money required for this endeavour,” he said. Blaze Jose, president, Rotary Club of Cochin Harbour said that the hospital is getting a lot of help from all the quarters. But, the impact is different when children volunteered to interact with them. That’s why we supported the school. Besides, we could also see that the hospital provides services to the best of its capabilities,” he said.
