For the last 20 days, sisters from the Missionaries of Charity have been landing up every day at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) Hospital’s COVID-19 centre in Srikakulam where severe critical patients are undergoing treatment. They then don PPE kits on top of their traditional white saris lined with a blue border, use a pair of gloves and a mask and then enter the COVID-19 ward.
They have been doing this three times a day for the last 20 days. They serve food, talk to the patients, enquire about their health, clean them up and also help them with their personal hygiene.
Speaking to TNM about the initiative, Srikakulam Collector J Nivas said, “We found that apart from medicines, nutrition and personal hygiene, care is required for severely critical patients and it is for this purpose that we have requested sisters from the Missionaries of Charity to help us. They readily agreed to render their service.”
Sisters from the church who are part of the many charitable organizations run by the various denominations of the Church are known for their service-minded approach. It was keeping this in mind that the Srikakulam Collector decided to reach out to the Missionaries of Charity, a Catholic religious organization that was established by Mother Teresa in 1950, to help with the recovery process of COVID-19 patients in the district. These sisters are bound by four vows-- chastity, obedience, poverty and wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor.
According to the Collector, this initiative has yielded very good results and the patients who have been loved and cared by the sisters can’t thank the sisters enough.
“The sisters basically take personal care and adopt a focused approach. They are doing a yeoman service for the COVID-19 patients. The first batch of 4 sisters completed 14 days of service and are now in quarantine. The second batch is now attending to the patients. Some of them have come in from far-off places like Hyderabad and Vijayawada since they have only a small team in Srikakulam district”, added the Collector.
The Collector observed that quite often, more than the medicines, patients need the assurance that they are recovering. They need someone to talk to. As they are in the COVID-19 ward, they don’t interact with anyone from outside for several days. The assurance that the sisters give them through their presence and the conversation is helping them in the road to recovery.
When TNM asked the Collector if we could be connected to the sisters, he said, “They do not want to speak to anyone as they are only service-minded. They haven’t even asked for any remuneration, all that they needed was a dormitory accommodation. It is unfortunate that they have lost many sisters due to the pandemic during their service across the country. Despite that, they willingly came forward. I have no words to express my gratitude.”