It is an unfortunate day for KEM nursing staff. We have lost a family member. I joined KEM in 1988 as a staff nurse and, like others, got the chance to nurse Shanbaug. We used to feed her as per the schedule. She loved fish.
It is a sad day for the nursing fraternity. Since morning, we have been flooded by calls from our retired colleagues who heard about her demise on television. Everyone wanted to be present for the last rites. For the last 42 years she battled bravely with the life and most of the nurses working at KEM Hospital knew her condition. We used to celebrate her birthday every year and most of the staff used to attend.
Trupti LokeShe was like our family member. All nursing staff working at the hospital were taking care of her personally. All of us nurses have high respect for Aruna. The story of her battle though life is terrific. Our judiciary should give the harshest punishment for what happened to her. Even the death sentence is not enough for the crime she suffered.
Namrata Kasbe
It is an unfortunate day for KEM nursing staff. We have lost a family member. I joined KEM in 1988 as a staff nurse and, like others, got the chance to nurse Shanbaug. We used to feed her as per the schedule. She loved fish.
Pradnya Desak
I've been taking care of Aruna since I was a student. Our senior staff had instructed us that she was to be taken care of like she was family. Initially she was scared of us and we were also wary, but soon she became a family member to us. She was no different than a grandmother that needed our care. On a weekly basis we would take her to the bathroom on a trolley to cut her nails, wash her hair and groom her. She loved eating fish. Now that she is gone, we feel like one of our family members is gone and we wish she could have lived on.."
Kalpana Vajul, tutor
She was not alone. She was like a family member to the KEM nursing staff including doctors. The court also declared KEM hospital as her custodian. There is a no single nurse in KEM who has not met Aruna.
Doctors
Dr Jatin Kothari, nephrologist at P D Hinduja Hospital, who was a resident at KEM hospital said, "I was in Dr Tilwe's unit in the department of medicine through the years '93 to '96 and I'd seen her many times during that period. There was not much that we could do for her medically, but hats off to the nurses. The way they took care of her, I'd never heard of it before. It's due to the effort of the nurses that she made it through so many years. The nursing staff deserves to be commended on their dedication to her."
Dr S S Kudalkar, retired doctor, who studied MBBS at KEM said, "I still remember that shameful day (when Aruna was assaulted). At the time we were doing our second year of MBBS at KEM Hospital. Even then her colleagues would take care of her, and the fact that she had not a single bedsore speaks volumes of their hard work. May her soul rest in peace."
Pragnya Pai, former dean of KEM hospital, said, "When I took over the hospital in 1989 I tried to make her more comfortable and tried to ease her discomfort. We would tell her stories in Konkani, find out what she liked to eat based on her reactions, and facilitate her life. We also tried to take her out of her ward but that would make her extremely uncomfortable and she would scream. Since she was already a well-known patient, more people would crowd in and aggravate her, so we stopped doing that."
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