Convert Aruna Shanbaug's room into a memorial, demand KEM hospital nurses

Ward no. 4 (A), the room on the ground floor of KEM hospital, had housed 67-year-old Aruna Shanbaug for 42 years. After her death on Monday, the hospital has decided to use the room for patients from the medicine ward.

Shanbaug, a former nurse who (barely) survived a brutal sexual assault by a ward boy, breathed her last on Monday morning, after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Shanbaug had been lying in the hospital's ward 4 in a vegetative state for more than three decades. After her family refused to take care of her due to financial constraints, KEM hospital's nurses took up the role of her family, and took care of her.

In 1973, ward boy Sohanlal Bartha Valmiki had pinned her down while sodomising her, and tied a dog chain around her neck, which almost strangulated her. This caused serious damage to her brain cells, rendering her to a vegetative state.

After Shanbaug's death, there have been strong demands from her colleagues and nurses that the administration declare her room a memorial. Dr Avinash Supe, dean, KEM hospital, however denied this.

"I have not received any copy of the demands from nurses, but we have decided to used this room for routine patients who are admitted in this ward for treatment. We will preserve her memory in the hospital campus, but cannot declare her room a memorial. Still, we will put up board bearing her name in this room," said Dr Supe.

Arundhati Vellar, the matron, agreed with Dr Supe, saying: "We are aware of the bed shortage the hospital is facing. The room should be used for other needy patients. Shanbaug will remain in our prayers and will be missed. We definitely want to preserve her memory in the hospital campus. "

Meanwhile chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday tweeted, saying they have decided to name the nursing training school in Thane on Shanbaug's name. "Maharashtra Government decides to give Late #ArunaShanbaug 's name to Nursing Training School, Thane. Our infinite salutes to her spirit!" reads his tweet.