Dhaka: 'I nurse by vocation, I bring the love of Jesus to the hospital'

On the World  Day dedicated to those who carry out this profession, the testimony of Juliana S. Palma, a Catholic, serving in the burns unit of a large public hospital in the capital. In Bangladesh, the problem of the shortage of nurses, who are a quarter of those the country needs, remains serious.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Today is also International Nurses' Day in Bangladesh with the theme "Our nurses, our future". On this day, people greet and thank those in this profession for their love, dedication and service. As in the case of Juliana S. Palma, a 44-year-old Catholic, who has made nursing her vocation.

Motherless, she grew up in a hostel run by nuns. "I also wanted to become a nun," she tells AsiaNews, "but then I realised it was not my path and I enrolled in a nursing institute in Tangail, where I graduated 20 years ago. I like taking care of sick people. People from all over the country come to our hospital with burn injuries".

Palma, mother of a child, attends Luxmibazar parish in Dhaka and works in the plastic and burns surgery department of the Dhaka Medical & Collage Hospital (DMCH). Extremely needy and helpless people come to the hospital for treatment because the care is almost free.

The burn patients need time to heal completely, so they stay in the hospital for long periods of time and so she gets to know their stories. "There are those who have attempted suicide and those who are victims of accidents. We listen to them carefully, give them encouragement and compassion".

"I like to serve my patients, if one day I don't go to the hospital, they ask me what happened to me," Palma explains. "The happiest moment of my life is seeing patients who come to our hospital in mortal danger and then, thanks to our care, gradually recover and return home with recognition. We can show hope in life to sick people. This is the beauty of the nursing profession".

Like any profession, nurses also face challenges and difficulties. "The patients in our hospital are very needy and we often see that they cannot get their medicines. In those moments, we nurses together with the doctors collect the necessary money".

Another serious problem is the shortage of staff: Bangladesh's medical services function with 76 per cent fewer nurses than necessary. According to World Health Organisation rules, there should be at least three nurses for every doctor.

In the country today, however, there are even fewer nurses than doctors: those registered by the Bangladesh Medical and Dental Council (BMDC) number 108,000, while there are only 77,838 registered nurses in the whole country, which is far less than the demand. This results in patients being deprived of necessary services.

Even in this difficult situation, however, Palma says she can testify to the unconditional love of Jesus: "I remember the story of a young Muslim man, Sujon Islam, who arrived at the hospital with a 90 per cent burn. He was very serious and we thought he would die. I prayed for him to Jesus with tears: 'Lord give him back his life and take mine'. Thanks to our sincere service that patient was healed and to this day he phones me and thanks me. In this way I showed the love of Jesus for everyone'.

• Bangladesh
• Dakha
• Catholics
• nurses
• health