Opinion India@75, Looking@100 | A nurse writes: I dream of an India with fewer patients
Preventative healthcare should become focus in next 25 years.
Plugging the gaps in our medical infrastructure should be accompanied by an India with healthier Indians. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna, File) 
For 35 years , I have been working in the nursing field, presently as an Assistant Commandant (matron). I started my work first in Kerala in 1986. Since then, I have worked all around the country, including Jammu and Kashmir, Dehradun and Delhi.
After a year and half of service in Kerala in government and private hospitals, I got selected for deployment in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. I was stationed in Dehradun. My first deployment was the most challenging assignment I have had to face to this day. Even though I was employed as a staff nurse, I was juggling multiple roles owing to an acute shortage in manpower. My roles ranged from patient care to supervision and administration. There, I first started noticing the gaps in medical care that plague our field. Despite the leaps and bounds I was able to make in my career due to the range of responsibilities I was entrusted with, the risks of being understaffed were glaring.
In 1993, at the height of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, I was stationed in Srinagar. While there, I would assist in the treatment of injured soldiers and civilians. The hospital I worked was a basic level hospital making it impossible to deal with any serious cases. For any cases requiring specialised treatment, we had to take patients to an army hospital about 10 kilometres away. In a particularly challenging delivery in a jawaan’s home, the baby was born with his intestines outside his body. I had to render emergency care on the spot and take him to the base hospital in Srinagar. Every minute is crucial in a job that deals with lives. Not having access to life-saving care is a reality nobody should have to deal with, regardless of where they are from. At 100, I want an India that has room for every patient in the country.
During my tenure with the National Security Guard, I also performed life-saving emergency care on a patient with a venomous snake bite. In 2013, I was chosen for the UN Peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I had the privilege of witnessing a world outside of India. Since 2014, I have been stationed at the Referral hospital, CAPF in Greater Noida.
At the Referral hospital, I perform supervisory and administrative roles. When Covid-19 hit, I was still working in Greater Noida. The surge in cases was overwhelming for our hospital, like all others across the country. My duties — ensuring sanitation standards, appropriate disposal of bio-medical waste, managing schedules for the staff, and emergency planning — especially during the pandemic needed to be carried out with utmost caution. Due to the high positivity rate at the time, our staff would get infected frequently and rosters were reworked almost daily. Most days, due to staff shortages, I wouldn’t make it back home until long after my duty hours. And so, as we step into the 75th year of independent India, I don’t want us to suffer as we did again. We need to be able to build a healthier country.
This year, I was awarded the National Florence Nightingale Award for meritorious service in nursing. The joy it brought me is immeasurable. Moving forward, for women who follow in my footsteps, I have one dream — for them to have enough resources to be able to carry out their duties to the best of their abilities. Two issues must be tackled in order for that to happen. One, timely recruitment and appointment of medical and paramedical staff, which is being ensured now. The delays in appointments is not something we can afford, especially in areas hit by the pandemic.
Second, nursing school education & information may quickly become outdated because the healthcare field is constantly changing and progressing. Adequate and appropriate training of medical and paramedical staff is critical. In my current deployment, on top of my daily responsibilities, I also play the role of deputy training officer. We need enough officers to conduct training sessions and a thorough review of the process so as to ensure that our trainees receive the best education, and in turn, our patients, the best care.
At 100, I want an India with fewer patients. Plugging the gaps in our medical infrastructure should be accompanied by an India with healthier Indians. Our focus, for the next 25 years, should be on preventative healthcare. These measures should be introduced in schools at early ages and in community spaces across the country. A greater focus on immunisation and sensitisation campaigns would go a long way. India at 100 should be a nation whose biggest virtue is its health.
The writer is a nurse working as an Assistant Commandant (Matron) with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. This article is part of an ongoing series, which began on August 15, by women who have made a mark, across sectors
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