WHEN the patient was admitted at the end of April,Lini Puthussery was starting her night shift. He was a young man of 26, bearded, and with his hair fashionably swept back from his forehead. His name was Mohamed Sadiq,from Changaroth panchayat. The symptoms were fever and difficulty breathing, which struck her as unusual, and even then. But her job was to care for him,so she gave him fluids and paracetamol, changed his sweaty clothes and sheets, or sat up with him all night long.
She had been working seven months on contract at the Perambra Taluk hospital,in the countryside external Kozhikode (once Calicut). The space had been upgraded from a community health centre a decade ago, but was still short of doctors and specialists. Difficult cases had to depart to Kozhikode, and 50km absent. Not many people filled the beds,but every day 1000 or so queued at the outpatient counter or at the pharmacy. The noisy crowd still milled there when she arrived for night shifts.
The journey from her domestic village...
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Source: economist.com