KEM Hospital's ward no.4 for women became Shanbaug's home

Female ward number 4, ground floor,
Medicine Department,
KEM Hospital,
Mumbai

A 10 X 12 square feet room. A room which became an identity, an address. A room which housed a fan, a cooler, a music system. And her.

Aruna Shanbaug, the lady who made looking after ailing patients her duty, fell prey to severe brain damage and paralysis after a ward attendant attacked her in 1973, in the very basement of the hospital in which the duo worked.

Every nurse who served as staff in the KEM hospital, got the chance to work under the Medicine Department on a rotational basis. Almost every nurse took care of her for a few months under the same arrangement.

It is no secret now, that instead of her doctors, it was the nursing staff (one she was a member of), who took the utmost care of her. Spending hours beyond their stipulated duty time and ensuring that Aruna was well taken care of, was something that came naturally to the nurses. Ward number four was maintained in an immaculate fashion. With each passing year, the advent of festivals was accompanied by a familiar surge of sweets brought in by nurses. Shanbaug was put on the ryles tube since the last two years as she became incapable of eating.

Whenever the room had a visitor, the staff would play devotional songs of Sadguru Wamanrao Pai for the now deceased, who was exceptionally fond of music.

Dr Amar Pazare, head of the Medicine Department, who was responsible for her well-being for the last five years of her life, admitted that the nurses played a vital role in her life. He said, "She was not on medication all the time. It was provided as and when required. The rest of the time, the nurses would serve her the daily, prescribed diet. Only for the last two years we put her on the ryles tube as she became incapable of swallowing any kind of food. We used to provide her with the necessary nutrition as a supplement through this tube."

Any normal day in ward number four would kick off with nurses doing the sponging at around 7:30am. 9:00am was her breakfast time, which usually consisted of varied soups everyday. 12:30pm was marked as lunch time. The nurses would change her diapers and urine bags three to four times in a day."

"Aruna loved music. Her mornings and evenings were highlighted with the nursing staff playing some music, which delighted her. Long ago, before her tryst with the ryles tube, the nurses would help her onto her wheelchair for baths. Spending time with her had become a ritual for the nurses. Even today, retired nursing staff members had come to attend her last rites," said Trupti Loke, who had joined the KEM hospital in the capacity of a staff nurse in 1988.

She added, "Taking care of Aruna never felt like a duty to us. We cared for her like she is one of our own. Most of the nurses came forward to help her. If she had a fall, several nurses would rush to her ward to ask after her health."

Having spent almost 42 years in the same ward made numerous doctors and nurses christen the ward as 'Aruna's ward.'

"Aruna was a part of the nurses' family. With no relatives of her own coming to pay visits or to take care of her, the nursing staff became her family. The Supreme Court also ruled that the KEM hospital is Aruna's guardian," said Urmila K, retired assistant matron, KEM hospital.

The 'Aruna room' has been locked since her death. Many come and try to peep into the room. While Shanbaug's belongings and medical files were shifted out of the room, Arundhati Vella, the matron, was heard instructing a class four worker to refrain from touching anything in the room and to lock the door. Higher authorities will take a call as to what to do about the room on Tuesday.