At 80, when most people would have long stepped away from work, Hindumbi Kaurom Kakkada still reaches Indira Gandhi Hospital in Kavaratti every morning. For more than five decades, she has been there when Lakshadweep needed her most.
Born and raised in Kavaratti, Hindumbi grew up in a family where service to others was deeply valued. Her father was a freedom fighter who had walked alongside Mahatma Gandhi during the Dandi March. That spirit of service stayed with her.
When she was in Class 9, a teacher asked what she wanted to become. Her answer was simple: a nurse. After Class 10, she left the islands for Kozhikode to train as a nurse—a difficult journey in those days, when travelling from Kavaratti to the mainland could take days. After completing her training, she returned home and joined the hospital in Kavaratti in 1972.
What awaited her was a world far removed from modern healthcare. There were power cuts, few doctors, limited medicines and almost no quick way to move critically ill patients between islands. Hindumbi delivered babies by kerosene and petromax light, assisted in surgeries during power failures and even helped perform a blood transfusion on a fishing boat in the middle of the sea while transporting a bleeding mother to Kavaratti. Both mother and baby survived.
Her own life demanded sacrifices too. She returned to duty just 45 days after giving birth, while her family cared for her newborn. Long shifts were followed by immunisation drives, home visits and emergency calls to other islands. Yet she says her family’s constant support made it possible for her to continue.
Over 53 years, Hindumbi has assisted in more than 20,000 surgeries and emergency cases, while also helping communities through cholera outbreaks, the 2004 tsunami and COVID-19.
She officially retired at 60.
Three months later, she returned—as a contract nurse.
In 2023, the President of India honoured her with the National Florence Nightingale Award. In 2026, she was selected among the Top 10 finalists of the Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award, from more than 134,000 registrations across 214 countries and economies.
But perhaps her greatest reward comes on the streets of Kavaratti. People still stop her and point to their children. “You delivered my child.” And at 80, Hindumbi still smiles, still reports for duty—and still answers when Lakshadweep calls.
