The President of India conferred the Florence Nightingale Awards to 35 nurses from across the country at the Durbar Hall in the presence of Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, and Santosh Chowdhary, MoS (Health) and AH Khan Chowdhury, MoS (Health).
Congratulating the awardees, the President said that they have distinguished themselves through their exceptional service and extraordinary dedication in the care of the sick and the infirm, and that they have brought credit to a vocation that is chosen by the most selfless and compassionate among us. In recognising them, we pay tribute to the entire corps of nursing personnel in India, the President stated. He said that today nurses are the largest workforce in the healthcare industry in India. Nursing services and capacity building have expanded considerably since Independence and their roles and responsibilities have multiplied over the years, the President said. The theme selected by the International Council of Nurses, “Nurses: A force for change – A vital resource for health,” is quite appropriate, he said. The Council has rightly recommended that the nursing workforce in India can be an instrument of change – through better workforce planning, improvement in its education and work environment and through a constructive process of assessing and addressing the nursing workload, the President stated.
The President further said that India’s healthcare industry today is worth more than $45 billion. It, however, accounts for less that one per cent of the global healthcare industry – even though it serves about 17 per cent of the world population. The strength of nurses in India is currently 0.8 nurses per 1000 citizens, he stated. This, compared to the world average of three nurses per 1000 is quite low. To come closer to the world average, our healthcare system would need to add about two million more nurses to its numbers, the President said. The President stated that as trainers and system innovators, the nurses can do much to develop better methods and educate the communities in which they live and work. He encouraged them to involve themselves in reviewing and re-modelling practices, modernising methods and rising to the challenges, and to expand their vision.
The Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad congratulated the award winners and said that nurses have not only become an indispensable part of the healthcare system, but have expanded their contributions to Education, Research and Hospital Administration. He said that the theme chosen by the International Council of Nurses for this year is “Nurses: A force for change – A vital resource for health”, recognises the important role nurses play in health care delivery and their potential to be forceful agents of change for bettering our hospital and home based services. He added that it is needed that we holistically preserve and develop this precious workforce and also more effectively utilise services of Nurses in Public Health Services beyond the traditional domain of hospitals and dispensaries. The Health Minister encouraged nurse leaders and practitioners, both from the service and education sector, to come forward and pave the way towards making nursing stronger in the country and fully participate in the mission to achieve the national health goals.
The International Council of Nurses celebrates the International Nurses Day in order to increase public awareness about nursing profession and its immense contribution towards healthcare service and innovation. The awardees are presented with Rs 50,000/-, a certificate and a medal.
Also present at the certification ceremony were Lov Verma, Secy (Health), and senior officers from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Source: PIB