Ketusieü Zao, one of the oldest surviving nurses in Nagaland.
At a young age, when Ketusieü Zao (now 87 years old) was being treated in the hospital for Malaria, she saw the nurses dressed in their white uniform taking care of the sick. “I really loved how the nurses cared for the sick, and there and then I decided to become a nurse,” she says.
Born in 1927, Ketusieü is perhaps one of the oldest surviving nurses in Nagaland who joined the nursing profession in 1952. She worked as a nurse from 1955 till she retired as the State Nursing Superintendant in 1989. “We enjoyed working together. There was a lot of understanding among the nurses too,” says Ketusieü, who asserts that ‘empathy’ is essential to being a nurse. Ketusieü is also of the view that with the improvement of Science, nurses in Nagaland have also improved and adds, “Today’s nurses are much better than what we were then.” Ask her what her main concerns are in being a nurse she says, “You need to be healthy to nurse the sick and you also need to treat each patient equally. And lastly a smile- it is a big encouragement to the sick.”
