Behind their gentle smile lie pain and sorrow
R. Sujatha
The idealism of nurses is constantly tested

— PHOTO: S. THANTHONI NOBLE PROFESSION: Nursing is a profession that requires idealism and physical endurance.
CHENNAI: Doctors diagnose and treat but the diligent nurse can make the difference to a patient recovering from a life-threatening situation.
Behind their serene, gentle smile and spotless uniform lie pain and sorrow. The uniform makes them confident when they have to administer difficult treatments, they say. Their idealism is constantly tested that discourages others from following in their footsteps, the nurses admit.
While helping the sick to recuperate, they also ward off infections that each person brings to the hospital.
Nurse K. Buvaneswari entered the profession in 1991. She has worked in the burns ward, the cancer ward and in the intensive care unit. Work in the ICU is demanding but satisfaction is higher as she can concentrate on patients better. Her three-year tenure in the burns ward was stressful. “Patients would writhe and scream in pain, and there is little we can do. We cannot give them injections all the time,” she recalls.
“In the septic or cancer ward, we are battling diseases every minute. As the only duty nurse I am currently in charge of 120 patients on four floors. At night, the patients will complain more and we have to watch them constantly. Our best efforts are laid waste sometimes, and I would return home exasperated,” she admits. Nurses in the isolation room of the cancer ward are the most overworked, she says. “It is at nights that the hospital receives more accident victims, those who attempt suicide .”
Her colleague, John Canoli Ratnam, says the problem in his hospital is poor staff strength.
He takes care of over 100 patients at night in the casualty ward of Government Royapettah Hospital. As he is on contract, he gets only Rs. 3,500 a month. “I studied in a government college on stipend so I have to work in the government sector. I cannot send the money home. Instead, I depend on my parents,” he says. His earlier posting was in the well-staffed City Police Hospital.
K. Jamuna Bai of K.K. Nagar Peripheral Hospital cannot forget her tenure at the TB hospital. “A patient had developed gout and he could not breathe. I knew he was dying. I removed the blood clot from his throat with my finger. When he began breathing I was relieved.”
When patients survive the emergency treatment and we are able to send them to a referral hospital for further treatment we are relieved,” she says. “Many of us have problems like osteoarthritis. We have knee aches and wear knee pads or crepe bandage.”
N.S. Sumathi began as a domestic help in a doctor’s house who encouraged her to take up ECG technician’s course at B.S.S. Hospital in Mandaveli.
“I have studied only up to Standard VIII and am not fluent in English. It was difficult to learn from seniors. Some of the kinder nurses have taught me to dress wounds, administer drips and injection and sutures,” she says. Though her family is not cooperative, she has trudged on. “My mother takes care of my two children. I was earning Rs. 300 as domestic help. Now I earn Rs.3500.