President Kovind gives National Florence Nightingale award 2020 to Brigadier SV Saraswati, Deputy Director-General of Military Nursing Service for her immense contribution to the MNS as a nurse administrator.

National Florence Nightingale Award is the highest national distinction a nurse can achieve for selfless devotion and exceptional professionalism.

In recognition of her meritorious and distinguished service in the nursing profession to the soldiers and their families she was awarded General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Commendation (2005), United Nations Medal (MONOC) (2007) and Chief of the Army Staff Commendation (2015).

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Florence Nightingale

Born into a British upper-class family on 12 May 1820, Nightingale broke away from the social conventions of her time to embrace a career as a nurse. Dedicating her life to the care of the sick and wounded, she would soon undertake to reform the entire nursing profession, at a time when hospital work was still considered a second-rate occupation for uneducated and impoverished women. Appointed by the British War Office in 1853, she led a group of 38 nurses to Scutari, near Istanbul, to tend to the wounded soldiers of the Crimean War.

She dedicated the rest of her life to reforming hospital management, reorganizing the British military medical services and improving the education of nurses. Her visionary writings stress upon the importance of prevention, hygiene and professional training.