SHILLONG: After facilitating over 1,000 births in the past 62 years, an octogenarian nurse has finally called it a day.
Kyiek Mukhim, 80, a nurse-cum-midwife, hailing from a remote village in East Khasi Hills district, took voluntary retirement because of age-related ailments.
Mukhim, lovingly called as Kong Kyiek in her locality, had worked fulltime at the Kharang Rural Centre (KRC) till June this year. She was given a warm sendoff by the management committee of the KRC on Saturday where other employees and her children were also present.
“Old age got the better of me and I have to pass on the baton to a new set of people who I believe will continue to work for the welfare of the poor and the needy in the village,” she told PTI She has lost count of being engaged in safe delivery of newborns all these years. “I have lost count of the exact number of babies I have delivered but I can tell you that on an average I attended two deliveries a month at Kharang and the adjoining villages. If that is totalled, it would cross 1,000,” she said.
“There were many years in between that I worked alone at the centre, without any doctor, and there were so many medical emergencies that I handled,” she said.
Mukhim was given a memento, some cash and a letter of appreciation from KRC as a mark of respect for rendering humanitarian service.
The KRC was founded by English-born humanitarian worker Annie Margaret Barr.
A mother of six, Mukhim was one of the first few students adopted by Barr at her rural centre in 1952. She went on to complete her education, nurse training and internship at Shillong Civil Hospital, Ganesh Das Hospital and TB Hospital here for three years after which she started working at the KRC.
She married Dranwell Wahlang in 1957 at the age of 20.
Located about 40 km from here, the village of Kharang has 352 families with a population of 2117, according to the 2011 census. The adjoining villages of Pingwait, Mawlein, Dienglieng and Nongjrong with over 800 households have an approximate population of 6,000.
A K Nongbri, doctor incharge at the Government Public Health Centre at Jongksha near Kharang, said, “It’s grateful to have known Kong Kyiek. Her service towards the villagers living in and around Kharang has been phenomenal and a lot of people who I have come across have always told me stories of her goodwill. May she be blessed with good health.”
A former nurse serving with the Indian Army, Major Elgiva Shullai, expressed her gratitude for the long social service that Mukhim rendered at KRC. “She is the living example of a true nurse and lived to the expectations of the people. She wished nothing more nothing less but for the service of humanity. I salute her,” she said. (PTI)
