BHUBANESWAR: Three nurses from Odisha received the National Florence Nightingale Nurses Award for the year 2021 from President of India Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday for outstanding service in the field of healthcare.
They are Damayanti Rout, Khulana Barik and Shivani Das. While Rout works as an ANM at the public health sub-centre of Gounighasa in Keonjhar district, Barik is posted at the district headquarters hospital of Jagatsinghpur and Das at the MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur.
Both Das and Barik have two decades of experience in nursing and have handled lakhs of patients so far. Rout, since 2003, has been conducting immunisation and village health and nutrition day sessions in inaccessible areas of Ghasipura block in Keonjhar. She has been visiting households in her bi-cycle for the last 19 years.
Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan congratulated the awardees. The Indian Nursing Council, a statutory body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, grants the Florence Nightingale Award to recognise the contribution of healthcare workers.