International Nurses Day observed in befitting manner in Hailakandi

May 12: International Nurses Day was observed in Hailakandi in a befitting manner on Tuesday. A function was held at the GNM Training School here in honour of the nurses and healthcare workers. Joint Director, Health Services, Dr.Ramesh Chandra Dwivedy said the nurses are at the forefront of the battle against COVID-19 and it reminds us of the pivotal role nurses play.

Dr. Dwivedy stressed that without nurses and other health workers, the battle against outbreaks will not be won and the world will not achieve the Sustainable Development Goals or universal health coverages. He said this year’s theme ‘Nursing the world to health’ is apt, as nurses are instrumental in improving sanitation, hygiene and nutrition of the ill. The nurses took the pledge to do all in their power to raise the standards and prestige of the practical nursing and to devote their lives to service and to the high ideals of the nursing profession. Principal, incharge, GNM Training School, Luna Seal and District Programme Manager, National Health Mission, Maruf Alom Barbhuiya were also present on the occasion.

International Nurses Day is being organised on 12 May to celebrate the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. Each year, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) comes up with a theme to honour nurses.
Florence Nightingale was the first person to turn the nursing profession into an organised sector with standardised roles and responsibilities. In 1854, she brought 38 volunteer nurses to care for soldiers during the Crimean War. Prior to that, both male and female nurses were usually untrained family members of soldiers who tended to the ill and the wounded.

The day was first proposed by an officer with the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Dorothy Sutherland in the year 1953 and subsequently proclaimed by the then president Dwight D Eisenhower. International Nurses Day was first celebrated by the International Council of Nurses (ICN) in the year 1965. This year’s International Nurses Day is special because it marks the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.