Character Analysis
We'll break down the colorful cast of characters that inhabit Missing Hospital in this section, because it's really as a collective that they make sense.
First up, Matron Hirst. She's the tough ruler of the hospital, who has a strong sense of right and wrong that doesn't necessarily line up with others' senses of right and wrong. For example, she reroutes money raised for one thing to other, more necessary expenditures, and she lies to her benefactors because she knows they're only interested in giving donations to sexy causes. She fibs a lot, but it's for the right reasons, and she loves Sister Mary Joseph Praise, Hema, Ghosh, and the boys.
Matron's right-hand man is Gebrew, a local priest who doubles as hospital watchman. He doesn't do much in the novel except exemplify the fact that Christianity has deep roots in Ethiopia, and he often carries out Matron's bidding. Almaz, too, is around mostly as a servant; we don't know much about her inner life.
Rosina is Ghosh and Hema's maid. She's also Genet's mother, and while Genet is ready to embrace new ideals, Rosina clings tightly to old traditions. She cuts her daughter's face in a tribal ritual, and she also has Genet circumcised after she loses her virginity. When the procedure almost kills her daughter, Rosina kills herself.
Rosina was in love with Sergeant Zemui, Colonel Mebratu's driver and Genet's father. He has a family elsewhere, but whenever Mebratu visits Ghosh to play cards, he visits Rosina and has a little family on the side with them. Mebratu is a revolutionary who leads a coup against the emperor, and he ends up dying for the cause, a martyr.
Other medical personnel at the hospital give us a taste of the lack of training but deep dedication that plagues Missing. The Probationer is mostly to blame for Sister Mary Joseph Praise's death, as she didn't recognize any of her symptoms or tell anyone about the problems. She almost kills the boys when they're born by ignoring them completely, though they survive. She ends up losing her virginity to Shiva years later.
Adam is a compounder, or pharmacist, who is almost ignored by medical science though he makes a great discovery. Dr. Bachelli is a white doctor who doesn't do much except remind us that Ethiopia is a colonized country.