Praise poured in from all quarters for the nurses, who have been rendering commendable service in fighting the dreaded coronavirus, on the occasion of International Nurses' Day on Tuesday.
They celebrated the occasion on a grand scale and paid floral tributes to British nurse and social reformer, Florence Nightingale, on whose birth anniversary International Nurses' Day is celebrated every year.
At many places, nurses lit the candles and paid tributes to those who died due to COVID-19, and took oath to render justice to their profession and to society. In some hospitals, nurses felicitated the retired and the senior ones to mark International Nurses Day.
Pushpa, nursing superintendent of the Government General Hospital (GGH), Vijayawada, along with other staff garlanded the portrait of Florence Nightingale and recalled her services. She thanked the nurses for taking up the profession and serve the patients with humanity.
“I took the profession with passion. But, I came to know about the value of a nurse during this pandemic. I am proud of being a frontline staff and happy for serving the patients,” said a nurse, G. Rekha. Scores of people greeted nurses by sending messages and mails to their social media groups. Doctors and other staff were seen greeting nurses on the occasion.
“I casually opted for nursing course after Intermediate. Now, I am observing the service being done by my seniors during the global health emergency. The demand for nursing course across the globe is very high,” a nursing student, Gundla Sowmya, said.
“We are getting panic on watching TVs on the COVID-19 situation in different States and the countries. Sometimes, we are switching off televisions unable to bear the tension on the prevailing situation due to the pandemic. But, the Nurses who are serving the patients in COVID hospitals are great. Nurses are facing many troubles at homes and in the localities they are staying,” a housewife Ravula Rajani Priya, said.