KEM celebrates Aruna Shanbaug's 65th birthday

The morning staff at the BMC-run KEM Hospital celebrated former nurse Aruna Shanbaug’s 65th birthday on Saturday.

Shanbaug has been in a vegetative state due to brain damage caused 39 years ago when she was brutally attacked by a ward boy while working the night shift at the hospital. Since then, hospital staff have been caring for Shanbaug and celebrate her birthday every year with cake and music. “Though she is bed-ridden, she responds to sound. She likes Lata Mangeshkar’s songs and bhajans. She also loves hot fish soup,” said a senior doctor at the hospital.

Shanbaug, who worked as a nurse in the hospital was on night duty, when she was brutally assaulted by a ward boy. He throttled her with a dog chain. “Her physical responses have been compromised highly but she still reacts to sound and taste,” said the doctor.

Shanbaug undergoes a medical check-up daily by the hospital doctors and has not developed a single bed sore till date.