International Nurses Day is being celebrated around the world today. The day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the Pioneer of modern nursing. Nightingale was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician.

She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed “The Lady with the Lamp” after her habit of making rounds at night.

Giving away the National Florence Nightingale awards to nursing personnel at Rasthrapati Bhawan in New Delhi, the President Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil said that much work was needed to be done to make available healthcare for the underprivileged and margnialised sections of society, particularly women and children. She expressed concern on the low penetration of health services in rural areas.

Lauding the role of nurses, Mrs. Patil said they were frontline providers of medical assistance. She said nursing was not only a profession and a career but a service to humanity.