By Felix Anthony
New Delhi, Dec 9, 2019: Sacred Heart Sister Rose Tom, a gynaecologist, has been conferred with ‘International Human Rights” award for 2019 for her healthcare services in interior villages of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Delhi-based International Human Rights Council gave the award on December 9 at a function held in the India Islamic Centre Auditorium in the presence of invitees from all over the country and abroad.

Sister Tom, a native of Kerala, has more than 33 years of experience working in various parts of India. She has worked for the past four years at the Krick and Bourry Memorial (KBM) Hospital in Injan village of Changlang district, Arunachal Pradesh.

“I am totally humbled by this honor”, said the 67- year-old nun told Matters India.

She came to Arunachal, responding to a special invitation from Bishop George Pallipparambil of Miao, to serve in KBM Hospital, the only Church-run hospital in the northeastern state, bordering Myanmar and China.

According to her, healthcare service is still major concern for the people in Arunachal.

Arunachal’s Infant Mortality Rate of 36 deaths per 1000 births is the highest recorded in the state since 2000 and one of the worst in the country.

“We are doing our best to educate and spread awareness among the people to reduce the IMR in the state through our mobile clinics and village health workers,” Sister Tom, who has done her doctorate in medicines at Padova University, Italy and DGO in Dublin, Ireland.

“This award is for the hundred of health workers like me, who walk for days to care for the sick in the last villages of Arunachal Pradesh,” she said accepting the honor.

Bishop Pallipparambil commented Sister Tom for the honor and said that she rightly deserves the award.

“Dr. Sr. Rose Tom, with her years of experience and expertise is a doctor for the people. When she was told of the need for a doctor in KBM Hospital, she at once relinquished her duty as a medical superintendent in a big hospital in Kerala and moved to Arunachal. She has indeed become a blessing for the people around. More than the health care per se, the awareness imparting role that she plays is more important as many deaths are caused to due to the ignorance of the people,” the Salesian prelate told Matters India.