Kerala doc postpones wedding for patients
NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY, SAYS THE 23-YEAR-OLD HOUSE SURGEON; HER FIANCE, WHO IS IN TOWN, AND PARENTS HAVE AGREED TO GO ALONG WITH
HER DECISION
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sunday, March 29, was supposed to have been one of the happiest days in the life of Dr Shifa M Mohammed, who was to get married that day to a Dubai-based businessman.
Instead, on the day she was to be wed, the 23-year-old house surgeon put on her personal protection equipment (PPE) and tended to Covid-19 patients at the isolation ward of the Pariyaram medical college hospital in Kannur on Sunday.
After the number of Covid-19 cases went up significantly in Kerala, the state government March 24 converted Pariyaram medical college hospital in Kannur into an exclusive Covid-19 hospital. The state has reported two deaths and 241 are in isolation wards.
“Marriage can wait, not my patients, who are struggling for their life in isolation wards,” she told her fiance and parents last week.
Both her fiance, who is in town, and parents agreed to go along with Dr Mohammed’s decision.
“In every woman’s life, a wedding is an important event. But my daughter has put her social responsibility and professional commitment before her personal needs. When she suggested postponing her wedding, we readily agreed,” said her father, Mukkam Mohammed, a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party and the Left Democratic Front’s Kozhikode district convenor.
Dr Mohammed was initially reluctant to speak about her decision, saying it was “nothing out of the ordinary,” but finally did so with the caveat that she wouldn’t say much. “I didn’t do anything great. I did only my duty,” she said over the phone, after coming out of the isolation ward.