NIGH in Times of India

The visit of the Nightingale Initiative for Global Health's co-director, Dr. Deva-Marie Beck to India during the International Nurses' Week celebrations has been reported in the country's prestigious newspaper, the Times of India.

According to an article, entitled "This Nightigale bats for nurses' rights", in the 15 May issue of the paper, Dr. Beck met with the nursing advisor to the ministry of health and family welfare in Delhi and was in Mumbai to meet with nursing leaders.

The article describes the aims and objectives of NIGH and its rapidly spreading global network and quotes Dr. Beck as saying: "There are already many nurses, who are already working in various communities, but nurses get lost in the shuffle. We are now encouraging nurses to speak out so that people can recognise their work."

Dr. Beck, in the article, goes on to highlight some inspiring experiences. In Ghana. for instance, she met a nurse, who single handedly brought together two opposing communities by starting a hospice care programme in their village to look after terminally ill patients.

"Christian clergy and Muslim Imams would sit side by side only because they all wanted their ailing patients to be well looked after," she told the paper.

The article states that NIGH is pressing the UN to declare 2010 as the year of the nurses to mark the birth centennial of Florence Nightingale.

The Times of India reports that India's State Health Department has for the first time instituted an award for nurses who serve patients with dedication in public hospitals.

The paper quotes Vimal Mundada, Minister of Health for the state government of Maharashtra,  as saying: "The award of to motivate the nursing fraternity as well as to improve the quality of services. Deserving nurses will be awarded Rs.10,000 as well as a one-time annual increment."

Download a scanned version of the Times of India article in pdf format