Anjali Kulthe, 50, the Bravest nurse staff nurse at Cama and Albless Hospital for Women and Children helped save more than 20 lives on the night of the 26/11 terrorist attacks. 

Going to her story, Anjali was on the night shift from 8 pm to 8 am at the ante-natal care ward, where 20 pregnant women were due for their delivery. However, the night changed radically as two terrorists viz. one of them Ajmal Kasab, who had entered the hospital premises. They shot two guards, who lay in a pool of blood at the entrance and injured a nurse. 

They were climbing up to the first floor, when the brave nurse jumped into action and shut the heavy double doors of the ward, sealing the room from harm. She moved the 20 pregnant women and some of their family members to the pantry at the far end of the ward and shifted the injured nurse to the casualty ward. She then called the duty doctor to alert the police.  The building resounded with every grenade explosion as the terrorists exchanged fire from the terrace with the police force below the building. 

Meanwhile, one of the two hypertensive women in the ward went into labour. Anjali shifted the patient to the delivery ward on the second floor and helped doctors delivery the baby in a quiet room, lit by only one tube light. She testified against Kasab in the trial, wearing her nurse uniform. She says she derives her strength from the uniform. A year after the attacks, she said, “I realised I had to live to look after my patients and keep them safe. I was in charge of them,” and added, “When I was on duty, I didn’t for a moment panic, break down or feel scared. The patients were my responsibility and I had to care for them. So I behaved as the uniform demanded of me.”

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