Nurse who continued in Covid-19 care post retirement dies of virus

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 30

Joan Mary Prescilla, the nursing superintendent at Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Hospital, spent months planning her post retirement life, but had no idea that fate had other plans.

Due for superannuation on March 27 this year, Priscilla postponed her retirement plans when duty called that she stay back to serve the hospital that was fast filling up with COVID-19 patients.

On May 27, exactly after two months of serving the sick, Priscilla died of COVID-19 having contracted the virus a few days back.

“Joan was a dedicated nurse all her life and was always committed to serving the sick. The moment her hospital authorities asked her to stay for COVID duties post retirement she readily agreed and threw herself headlong in the service of the ill. As a frontline health worker, she was in touch with the ICU patients and those on oxygen support and ventilators. Despite protective gear and precautions, she ended up contracting the virus. Her demise is unfortunate but it’s the best tribute to a woman whose sole mission in life was service,” says Victoria Solomon, Joan’s cousin, herself a nursing superintendent at another hospital in Tamil Nadu, which is among the 10 states with 80 per cent of India’s over 1.65 lakh COVID cases.

Victoria also says their whole family has had a tradition of nursing care with at least 10 people in the extended kinship currently in COVID care across hospitals.

Joan’s friends are, meanwhile, in shock and say she was healthy until a few days back when the virus infected her and took her away in no time. “Everyone says they will remember her for her smiling face and kind demeanour.”

Tributes are now pouring in for the frontline warrior who staked her life to stand in the care of the sick when she could have easily moved on to lead a comfortable post-retirement life.

Joan has quickly earned herself the sobriquet of the Florence Nightingale of Tamil Nadu.

Later in the day, the Tamil Nadu government announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for Joan Mary but her family was not impressed.

Speaking to The Tribune, Joan’s brother Ebanezer Arul Selvan said, “COVID warriors are entitled to a compensation of Rs 50 lakh and the state government has only announced Rs 5 lakh. Despite the fact that my sister was admitted to isolation ward like other COVID patients, the hospital authorities say she died of co-morbid conditions and not COVID. This is a lie because in my sister’s first case sheet COVID positive was clearly written but the hospital later said she died of other underlying conditions which is just an attempt to deny Joan and her kin the compensation that’s due to COVID warriors. Even after Joan died, doctors were keeping 3 metre distance from her body. Why should they keep social distance from my sister’s body if she was not COVID positive?” said an inconsolable brother.

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