As the Covid pandemic raged through the world, a 49-year-old nurse – Shanti Teresa Lakra – who works at the GB Pant Hospital here, braved cyclonic tides to travel by a dinghy to Tirur island to vaccinate the primitive Jarawa tribe to save them from being wiped out by the disease in 2021. Today, at age 51, she is being considered for a prestigious Global Nursing Award 2023.
Two years back, while travelling through the choppy seas, Shanti, who was leading a small medical team, had once thought that they would not be able to make it when their dinghy was caught in a storm in the Andaman.
“The sea was extraordinarily rough and we thought were all going to drown … But God willed it otherwise and we managed to reach and vaccinate the Jarawas successfully. We also managed to explain to them the precautionary measures they have to take during the pandemic,” Shanti from London.
The Jarawas who have minimal contact with outsiders were considered particularly vulnerable to the disease as the tribe has little medical help available to it at the best of times.
Over the years, Shanti’s dedicated service to the primitive tribes of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has paid off as she was selected for the top ten 10 finalists for the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2023, which honours nursing staff worldwide.
She came into the limelight in 2004, when after a devastating Tsunami, she went out to work among the Onge tribal to bring them relief and succour after the death and destruction wrought by nature.
On May 3, she received a call from the management of Aster Guardians Global Nursing to tell her that she had been shortlisted as one of the top ten finalists for the prestigious award. “after the call, I could not hold back my tears…I was excited,” she said.