TIRUCHY: Theirs was an unconventional love story. Fifty-eight-year-old Pitchaimani, the first COVID warrior to succumb to the virus in Tiruchy, believed in getting what she wanted. Whether it was leaving her hometown of Thanjavur for nurse training in Tiruchy, making sure her son got a good education, asking for help when she needed it, or marrying the man she loved, Pitchaimani did what she wanted.
But when the COVID -19 pandemic swept Tamil Nadu, the Sector Health Nurse (SHN) from the Valanadu Primary Health Centre (PHC), set aside her wants and the demands of her ailing body, to continue performing her life-saving duty.
Her death on July 8 at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) in Tiruchy came after a two-week struggle and left the village of Valanadu in mourning. Now, 73-year-old Ponnaiyah, her husband of 27 years, is in the isolation ward of the same hospital. He stifles his sobs as he thinks of his wife.
“We met at work in 1986. I was a health inspector, and she was a Village Health Nurse (VHN). She liked the way I worked, and I liked her dedication,” he says. “She was all alone here, at that time,” he says, pointing out how big a deal it was in those days for a woman to move to another district in pursuit of her professional dreams.
“She excelled at her work. In her 33 years of service, there have been no complaints against her -- not from doctors, patients, or her co-workers. She was an absolute gem,” he notes with pride. Pitchaimani started her career as a VHN at Karumalai PHC in 1986. She was due to retire this year. She had hoped to spend time at home with her husband and 25-year-old son, a lecturer. But the State extended her tenure due to the pandemic. With hypertension, diabetes, asthma and a painful knee, working during COVID was difficult but she did her job out of a sense of duty.
“She helped everyone. There were 19 VHNs working under her and she was always a call away for them. She worked non-stop for 33 years and balanced home and work beautifully. Whatever problems she faced, she never let it show on her face” Ponnaiyah recalls.
Other members of her family say that her health problems weighed her down. She required full-time help at home but continued going to work as usual.
“She was unable to walk even one kilometre from the bus stop to her house. Her husband would pick her up or she would get a lift. But whatever the difficulty, she always showed up. She never took any leave,” said a VHN, who worked with her.
When her health worsened, she was advised to work from home. However, she still had to visit the Manapparai Government Hospital for some work. She contracted COVID soon after that. She was admitted to the MGMGH on June 25 and died on July 8.
Ponnaiyah is distraught that two of his late wife’s dreams remained unfulfilled: to spend her sunset years with her husband - and to see her son married.