I first meet Goma K.C. in the Antenatal and Family Planning clinic at the Baglung District Hospital in June 2011. Her short and rounded features set her apart from the wispy frames of the nursing students helping her in the clinic that day, but it was her laughter that commanded a room. I could hear it from the tiny hallway outside the clinic, even amongst the chatter of over 100 women waiting for an antenatal check up. She would give over 200 antenatal check ups that afternoon, with the help of two nursing students. The next day she continued to keep her broad smile even through the vaccination of infants, as another hoard of women came to give their children various vaccinations.
Three years later, I sit with her in her family owned pharmacy right across the street from the newly renovated Baglung Hospital District Hospital. It is a public holiday, which means the normally bustling streets of Baglung Bazaar are quiet except for the occasional shouting of playing children. While most of the shops are closed, she opens her pharmacy to the woman who would normally come to the Hospital for Antenatal check ups. Goma K.C. continues to run the family planning clinic, now based on the first floor of the four story hospital. With the Hospital closed except for emergencies, she leads Bishnu Roka, 20 years old, into the back room. Checking her blood pressure, Goma K.C. then examines her abdomen for the size and position of the baby. Feeling the young lady’s ankles and wrists for swelling, the examination is over swiftly under the care of Goma’s well practiced hands. She weighs Jamuna before prescribing her calcium and iodine, reminding the young woman to care for her nutrition and hygiene.
Out the front, a few more patients have gathered. A young lady coming to have her hand examined feeling acute pain. Another has come for some anti-vomiting medication, at two months pregnant she is experiencing a bad case of morning sickness. The patients continue to come and go, giving Goma little time to sit still. At 11am a lady comes in with a stack of silver tin boxes, Goma’s lunch has arrived. Goma introduces the lady as her house-maid, working three jobs she has little time for cooking she explains. Excited to have five minutes to herself she opens the little boxes full of rice, curry and milk, mixing them together. She excitedly says, “I love milk!” Goma is now 49 years old and has been working as a nurse and midwife since she was 18 years old. She studyed and worked at Palpa Mission Hospital, conducting a two year midwife course, before moving to Baglung when she was 23 years old. She opened up Radha Medical Pharmacy 18 years ago, which now her daughter in law runs, while she is working in the Family Planning Clinic or in the operating room as an assistant.
