Nurses at Mumbai hospital take care of colleague till her last breath

Losing a loved one is a pain that is hard to overcome but with the help of friends one can tide over grief This is what happened to one such family at Nair Hospital where nurses took care of an ailing colleague till her last breath and provided support even after her passingRita Sequeira left top had worked at Nair Hospital for 25 years Her colleagues who were by her side till her last breath organised a prayer meet at the hospital after her passingRita Sequeira 45 was diagnosed with a rare spinal illness and was bedridden for the last three months of her life She had worked for 25 years at the hospital While her husband stayed by her side and spent all his savings on her treatment it was the support and encouragement of the hospital staff that helped the family through the ordealBe it taking care of their bedridden friend cooking her favourite meals or collecting funds and finding doctors to treat her pro bono the nurses left no stones unturned in caring for their friendldquoWe felt blessed to have such people around her Even when I couldnrsquot attend to her due to work appointments her friends were always by her siderdquo said Sebastian Sequeira Ritarsquos husband Rita who was suffering from a rare spinal condition that had left her paralysed waist down passed away on October 15On Thursday morning the staff organised a prayer meet in her memory ldquoI could not afford the hospital expenses by myself and the hospital came to our rescue there as wellrdquo Sebastian added The family spent nearly R45 lakh on treatment and medicinesDegenerative conditionIt all started in July when one fine morning Rita who also had diabetes suddenly collapsed in her house After sleeping for a couple of hours she woke up to realise that she had lost all control of her legs ldquoWe immediately rushed her to Nair Hospital and conducted tests to find out what went wrongOver the next couple of weeks we took her from one hospital to the other hoping to find out exactly what happened to her She underwent a surgery in a Vashi hospital which cost around R2 lakh Even after the surgery she was bedriddenrdquo said Sebastian Doctors also suggested another surgery which would have cost around Rs 6 lakh which the family could not affordThis is when the Ritarsquos coworkers stepped in ldquoWe got a call from the hospital matron who asked us to shift Rita back to Nair Hospital for further treatment Later I was told that the nurses had joined hands and contacted some of the best doctors in the city for consultationrdquo added SebastianTests showed that any further surgery on Ritarsquos spine could prove fatal so she was put on medication in order to help her get better The nurses also helped find doctors whom they convinced to work pro bono for their friend ldquoMy wife was fed up of surgeries and medicines so in the end she requested she be kept at Nair Hospital only with her first familyrdquo he addedOver the next couple of months her friends were at her service 24x7 feeding cleaning and bathing her ldquoAll the nurses also contributed financially for her treatment and got her treated by some of the best doctors in the cityFor us she was family and we didnrsquot mind going out of our line of duty to do the best we couldrdquo said Surekha Sawant the matron at the hospital Last month Ritarsquos left foot showed signs of infection and a doctor suggested amputationldquoOur nurses did not want that so they got in touch with a wellknown doctor in Raheja Hospital who prescribed medicines instead of amputationrdquo added Sawant Last week however Ritarsquos kidney got infected leading to failure of both her kidneys This was followed by a cardiac arrest on Wednesday morning which ultimately caused her deathldquoRitarsquos husband has already spent a lot of money on her treatment and they also have an eightyearold son We have collected money and will hand it over to her husband and hope it will help the familyrdquo Sawant added Rita was finally laid to rest on Thursday and a prayer meet will be organised this Saturday by the familyWhile the family is still coming to terms with her loss they feel they couldnrsquot have handled this issue without the staffers ldquoThey work with so much compassion and are very rarely appreciated for their work I hope some day I can also repay them for all their help and supportrdquo concluded Sebastian