Mission to serve

Known as the Mother Teresa of Mau, Kerala-born Dr Jude has dedicated her life to the service of the sick and poor. Treating her job as a mission, the ‘saint-doctor’ has till date performed over 70,000 Caesarean operations, writes Kulsum Mustafa

Situated in Mau, a poverty-stricken and nondescript district of eastern UP, the Christian missionary-run Fatima Hospital has been home to Dr Jude for the past 32 years. Popularly known as the Mother Teresa of Mau, this 67-year-old doctor of the Medical Sisters of St Joseph, has dedicated her life to the service of the sick and poor.

The Kerala-born doctor, who literally lives in the labour room, is on call 24x7. Treating work as a mission, Jude has till date performed over 70,000 Caesarean operations and has attended an astounding 382 outdoor patients in a single day—surely a record of sorts. Simply terming all this as ‘God’s work’, Jude’s healing touch has spread far and wide.

It is a little hard to believe that she had been sent to Mau from Pilibhit Hospital (in UP) for a mere three months when a gynaecologist was urgently needed at the then Fatima dispensary, set up by three sisters in Mau in May, 1977. The nearest government hospital was 40 km away. The dispensary was turning away many female patients every day simply because it did not have a gynaecologist. Understandably, Jude’s hands were full the moment she arrived, and the three months extended to six, then nine. Eventually, she never went back.
"Without sleep or rest, she worked day and night, never saying no to any patient. There appeared a divine passion that seemed to be guiding her, for no human being could have so much energy or stamina," is how Sister Roselet, the Mother Superior and one of the three founder-members of hospital, recalls her services.

As for Jude, who had nursed a childhood desire to lead a holy life and had left home to serve God at the age of 17, she found her mission in Mau. "I wanted to become a saint. I became a doctor instead. In 1975, the convent sent me to Lady Harding Medical College in New Delhi to study medicine. I soon realised I was doing God’s work," is how she describes her medical journey of over four decades.

Initially, things were not easy at Fatima Hospital. "We began sans funds or facilities. There were alien people, all illiterate, strange terrain and language, and the dispensary was surrounded by thick jungles. Thefts and dacoities were common," recalls the dedicated doctor. But right from the first day, the dispensary was flooded with patients. As Mau is situated midway between Gorakhpur and Varanasi, Fatima got some extremely difficult cases and chiefly from the poorest of the poor.

One hot, summer May afternoon in 1979, a VIP case arrived at Fatima Hospital. The pregnant wife of an important contractor of Ballia was brought in a near-dead condition. She had travelled across 40 km with a ruptured uterus and was cold and clammy by the time she reached Fatima. But Jude’s treatment saved her, and soon the doctor’s fame spread to the far-flung areas of the region.

Patients poured in by the hundreds. Women with ruptured uteruses, profusely bleeding or with placental problems, some with babies, which had not descended, all began to seek Jude’s treatment. However, in such difficult and trying situations, she neither panicked nor gave up hope. In fact, for 10 years she worked without an assistant and without a break, reiterating that her work was her source of relaxation.
Not that much has changed in the years since. Despite the hospital now having acquired 250 beds and a staff of 150, Jude’s still on her feet. So immersed is she in her work that she has no time even to eat or rest. "Initially, she was attending the OPD in the morning and performing operations in the evening, but over the last three years we have made a rule—surgery and OPD on alternate days, and five hours of sleep a must," explains Sister Roselet. A stickler for discipline, Jude cannot disobey her orders. Sister Roselet has also restricted her OPD cases to 200 a day.

"After 200 we shift the files to the other doctor," says Sister Roselet, adding that even then sometimes the workaholic Jude has her way and manages some ‘extra’ cases. But Dr Jude says: "I appreciate their concern. In fact, I am able to do so much because of their great assistance. We work in unison, but I cannot refuse anyone who needs me." Her one break—an annual vacation with her family in Kerala—is kept short, just a week. "I get restless and bored after a week. I cannot stay away from work for long. I miss my patients. Mau is home to me now, and I get homesick when I am away," she reveals with a smile.

While she is known for handling the trickiest of medical cases, Jude considers four cases, in particular, as her most challenging: two breach and two surgeries performed on the mothers where the heads of the babies had been severed by the attending doctors. "In one case the baby’s head had been left at home, and I had to send for it to stitch it back on the body. In the second instance, it was brought along with the patient. In both cases, we could save the mothers," she recalls.

Jude has also performed two deliveries on HIV-positive pregnant women, who arrived at Fatima Hospital. While such cases are referred to BHU Hospital in Varanasi, Fatima Hospital as a rule never turns down an HIV-positive patient in distress. Explains Jude: "I take all the precautions, like double gloves, isolated room, anti-septic solution, and then go right ahead. I am not afraid."

Once a local journalist commented that since she had stayed in the same hospital for 33 years, she must be drawing a very high salary. The scribe was left dumbfounded with the miracle doctor’s simple response: "Why should I be paid a big salary? The hospital looks after all my needs — food and clothes. What more do I need?"

Amazement and admiration are emotions that take over anyone who happens to meet this petite bundle of humility. Yet, amidst the service to the poor, Jude manages to pursue another passion—vegetable gardening. In fact, she prides herself for growing the best papayas in the region. "They are known as ‘Dr Jude’s papayas’ and she zealously guards them. She collects their seeds, puts them in little bottles and gives them as gifts to anyone who asks for them," smiles Sister Blessy.
Any regrets in life? Dr Jude looks up, her crystal clear eyes full of intelligence and honesty. "Regrets? No, none. I am very, very happy. I am doing God’s work." And the nation’s work, one could add.

The latest UNICEF State of the World’s Children Report notes that 78,000 women die each year in India in causes relating to pregnancy and childbirth. India could do with many more like her. Dr Jude has become what she had wanted to be — a saint, with the healing touch. — WFS

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