India's ‘corona warrior’ who is also fighting cancer

An illustration of Ramu Sahu showing someone how to wash their hands properly

Ms Sahu goes door-to-door educating people about the virus

Rama Sahu is what the Indian government calls a "corona warrior" - a community health worker who is helping fight the pandemic. But she is also battling cancer, reports BBC Hindi’s Sushila Singh.

Every morning, 46-year-old Rama Sahu leaves her home in the eastern state of Orissa to conduct door-to-door surveys and distribute rations.

She walks in sweltering heat - the average summer temperature in Orissa touches 40C - to visit 201 households.

She encounters the same faces every day but none of them know that she has been diagnosed with uterine cancer. Her condition is so bad that she wears a diaper throughout her rounds.

"When I work, I forget all my problems,” she says. “The mind is always at work.”

She questions families to find out if any one of them is showing symptoms of Covid-19, advises them on isolation and social distancing norms, and distributes food. She patiently answers their questions and enters information into her form.

This form is then submitted to local officials, who collate this data across districts every day to monitor trends and document cases in a country as vast and densely populated as India.

The country currently has close to 50,000 reported infections, but many believe the low number is because India is not testing enough. So, the role of frontline health workers like Ms Sahu, who are constantly on the lookout for new cases, has become all the more important.

There are hundreds of thousands of such workers across India. And amid a strict nationwide lockdown, which began on 25 March, they are also delivering rations to the poor, and giving them much needed advice on dealing with the pandemic.

“We are needed in these trying times,” says Ms Sahu.

And that’s why, she adds, she continues to do her job even though she is battling a painful disease.

"She stays at home only when she is in a lot of pain,” says her husband, Ramesh.

“She cries a lot at home but she forgets all of that while she is working,” he adds. “But her supervisors are understanding, and ask her to take leave and rest.”

The couple had two sons, but both of them died. One was four years old, and the other just six months.

An illustration of Rama Sahu on her rounds

“Our world came crashing down,” Mr Sahu recalls. He says they both fell ill but he doesn’t know what the illness was.

He says he and his wife wanted to become parents again but it was while they were trying - in 2014 - that she received her cancer diagnosis.

Mr Sahu owns a convenience store. He used to work on construction sites in another state but moved back home after that.

He says that they went all the way to Mumbai city for treatment and started chemotherapy. She was told that she had recovered but soon after, the cancer returned.

"The doctor told us that nothing is in his hands because the cancer is in the last stage,” he says.

Ms Sahu, meanwhile, is undeterred. She says it’s her job to educate people about the use of masks, and how to wash their hands. Otherwise, they will “mess it up”, she says.

“Even though she is ill, she has not backed down. We are so grateful to her,” says Laxman Gowda, the village head.

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