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A year on, KEM hospital nurses remember Aruna Shanbaug

Ahead of Shanbaug's first death anniversary on May 18, dna talked to the nurses who took care of her. KEM hospital matron Arundhati Vellhal said, "In our training, we are taught that care would never stop. The nursing staff of the hospital ensured that she didn't get a single bedsore in these 42 years. We maintained a schedule to take care of her."

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Aruna Shanbaug in KEM’s ward number 4
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It has been a year since Aruna Shanbaug, the nurse who lived in a vegetative state for 42 years, died at King Edward Memorial (KEM) hospital. On November 27, 1973, Shanbaug was sexually assaulted and strangled with a dog-chain by ward boy Sohanlal Bhartha Walmiki. She was 67 when she died.

Ahead of Shanbaug's first death anniversary on May 18, dna talked to the nurses who took care of her. KEM hospital matron Arundhati Vellhal said, "In our training, we are taught that care would never stop. The nursing staff of the hospital ensured that she didn't get a single bedsore in these 42 years. We maintained a schedule to take care of her."

She added, "Whenever I see an unconscious patient or a patient with head injuries, I remember Aruna. She was a part of our family. When her own family stopped visiting her, we took upon the responsibility to take care of her. All the 700 nurses in this hospital have seen her and most of them have taken care of her as well."

Staff nurse in-charge Anuradha Parade, who has been working in KEM for the last 40 years, said, "I don't start my day without seeing Aruna's room. It has a lot of positive energy. She survived there for so long. The room is still functional. We miss her everyday."

Another nurse Trupti Loke, who joined KEM in 1988, said, "I was given the responsibility of feeding Aruna. Later on, in her last five years, when I joined the Nursing Welfare staff, we tried to provide her utmost comfort. Aruna used to have a sweet smile and was always cooperative. She was a miracle."

Senior assistant matron Lata Kamble said, "Aruna belonged to our family. She was one of us. We always remember her while passing by her room. She has never left our memories." "We have earned respect in KEM because of Aruna. All the doctors, nurses and other service staff were responsible for her 42 years of survival," said staff nurse Samita Naik, who has been working in the KEM for the last 30 years.

After the assault, Shanbaug had been a special occupant of KEM's ward number 4. In the 42 years, she was shifted from there only twice – once to an ICU unit for a month in 2013, when she suffered from pneumonia, and another time to ward number 22 in the last five days of her life.

In 1980, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which runs the hospital, made an attempt to move her out of KEM. The corporation had to call it off following a stiff resistance from the nursing staff. Shanbaug's life had also raised a debate on euthanasia in the country. Jjournalist Pinki Virani had moved the Supreme Court (SC) with a euthanasia plea to rid Aruna of her agony. The SC had turned down the plea on March 7, 2011.

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