788 days. That is the time Lizy and husband T C Thomas have spent waiting by the bedside of their 26-year-old son, Tito, hoping he will recover from the vegetative state he slipped into in December 2023, after a relapse of Nipah virus. It had been only nine months since he had started work as a nurse.
As another Nipah virus scare, this time from West Bengal, subsides, the couple have little to go on but hope – and the hospital where Tito worked, which has supported the family and borne the cost of Tito’s treatment since he fell ill. “They consider him one of their own,’’ says Thomas.
Located in Kozhikode, the IQRAA International Hospital and Research Centre is run by the JDT Islam Orphanage, which has existed for at least a century. In November 2025, after Tito had been hospitalized for almost a year, IQRAA organised a house on rent for the Thomases to move in, located nearby so that the daily care Tito needs can continue uninterrupted.
Says IQRAA Executive Director Dr P C Anver: “Our hospital is run by an NGO and we have a commitment to society. If we look at the cost, around Rs 1 crore has already been spent. But we do not put a price on human life. Our job is to save lives.”
Adds Dr Anver, who is also the president of the management committee of JDT Islam: “Tito has not regained cognitive functions. He may not be able to lead a fully fruitful life. Yet, his parents find relief in having their son alive… We are only doing our duty – guided by the thought that at the end of the day, we must answer to God.”
Dr Shihabudheen P, in the critical care department of IQRAA Hospital, says Tito has been diagnosed with late-onset Nipah encephalitis. “This is the first such reported case in India, while Malaysia has had three-four cases. Tito was also the first Nipah patient in the country to be administered monoclonal antibodies, sourced from Australia, with the support of the Kerala government (in 2023).”
The Thomases belong to Karmai in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, and Tito joined IQRAA as a staff nurse in March 2023 after a graduate course in nursing. For the parents, it was a proud moment. With elder son Shijo employed in Hyderabad, Thomas hoped to put his life’s struggles as a marginal farmer behind him.
But, just four months later, in mid-August, Tito was exposed to the Nipah virus while attending to a patient. After the patient died, all on his contact list, including Tito and other health workers, spent time in quarantine at the staff quarters.
Tito tested positive and spent weeks in treatment at the hospital. After another test came negative, he returned to his Karnataka home.
In December 2023, Tito joined back duty. Says Thomas, “Days later, he developed a severe headache and, in the afternoon of December 8, he slipped into a vegetative state.”
While he got off ventilator support after some weeks, Tito remains in the same condition. “Since then, the hospital has been looking after Tito, despite him being in their service for only a few months,” says Thomas.
On their request for a change from the hospital atmosphere after a year’s stay, the management, the father says, “found a house on rent around a 10-minute drive from the hospital”. “They have provided the hospital bed at the house too… Every morning, head nurse Veena Jose calls us, enquiring about Tito and his needs. Doctors visit him every week, and a physiotherapist comes three times a week.”
Veena, who has been tending to Tito now for two years, says: “All of us staffers from the ward where he was admitted continue to attend to him.”
The parents are also grateful to the Kerala government for allotting them Rs 17 lakh from the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund, particularly as they are not from the state. “We had petitioned the Congress government in Karnataka too. Congress leaders in Kerala visited Tito in hospital and promised to ensure financial assistance from the party-ruled Karnataka govt. But so far nothing has materialised.”
However, the parents say, they can’t linger on such thoughts. They strive to maintain a positive outlook, including listening to stories of people who have survived heavy odds, and thinking of “miracle” survivals. On odd days, they think of Tito’s dream to build them a house; they had laid the foundation stone after he got a job.
“It is our belief that a miracle may happen,” says Thomas.
The other thing they have faith in is cricket. The TV in Tito’s room is constantly tuned to channels telecasting the game that the 26-year-old loved. “If someone comes close, tears well up and stream from his eyes,” says Lizy. “That is the only positive change since that December day.”
Curated by James Chen
