Mahatma Gandhi on Florence Nightingale: "She was not afraid of going even to the battle-front, and did not know
what fear was. She feared only God. Knowing that one has to die some
day or other, she readily bore whatever hardships were necessary in
order to alleviate the sufferings of others."
There has been very little publication to date on Nightingale’s forty years of work on public health care, broadly conceived, on India. Indian sources show her early support for re-forestation and interest in the influence of environmental conditions on health. She routinely linked such social factors as land tenure and local government with health outcomes. Nightingale supported the early stages of the nationalist movement in India. Mahatma Gandhi read Nightingale and later wrote an article about her in the Indian Opinion publication (9-9-1905):
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Mahatma Gandhi
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"We have in an earlier issue of the journal published an account of the career of the benevolent lady, Elizabeth Fry. Just as she brought about an improvement in the condition of prisoners and devoted her life to their service, so also Florence Nightingale sacrificed herself in the service of the men in the army. When the Great Crimean War broke out in 1851, the British Government was as usual not alive to the situation. There was no preparation. And just as in the Boer War, so in the Crimean War, too, they committed blunders in the beginning and suffered a crushing defeat.
Fifty years ago, the various facilities for nursing the wounded which are available today did not exist. People did not come out to render aid in large numbers as they do now. Surgery was not as efficacious then as it is today.
There were in those days very few men who considered it an act of mercy and merit to succour the wounded. It was at such a time that this lady, Florence Nightingale, came upon the scene and did good work worthy of an angel descended from heaven.
She was heart-stricken to learn of the sufferings of the soldiers. Born of a noble and rich family, she gave up her life of ease and comfort and set out to nurse the wounded and the ailing, followed by many other ladies. She left her home on October 21, 1854.
She rendered strenuous service in the battle of Inkerman. At that time there were neither beds nor other amenities for the wounded. There were 10,000 wounded under the charge of this single woman. The death rate among the wounded which was 42 per cent, before she arrived, immediately came down to 31 per cent, and ultimately to 5 per cent. This was miraculous, but can be easily visualized.
If bleeding could be stopped, the wounds bandaged and the requisite diet given, the lives of many thousands would doubtless be saved. The only thing necessary was kindness and nursing, which Miss Nightingale provided. It is said that she did an amount of work which big and strong men were unable to do. She used to work nearly twenty hour, day and night.
When the women working under her went to sleep, she, lamp in hand, went out alone at midnight to the patients' bedside, comforted them, and herself gave them whatever food and other things were necessary. She was not afraid of going even to the battle-front, and did not know what fear was. She feared only God. Knowing that one has to die some day or other, she readily bore whatever hardships were necessary in order to alleviate the sufferings of others.
This lady remained single all her life, which she spent in good work. It is said that, when she died, thousands of soldiers wept bitterly like little children, as though they had lost their own mother.
No wonder that a country where such women are born is prosperous. That England rules over a wide empire is due not to the country's military strength, but to the meritorious deeds of such men and women."
Indian Opinion, 9-9-1905
M. Gandhi, "No. 80, Florence Nightingale." in The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. V, 1905-1906 (New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India, 1994), pp. 61-62. (Errata: Printed as September 9, 1905 in vol. 5, but actually published September 9, 1915)
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