Jalpaiguri nurse receives Florence Nightingale Award

Kolkata: On International Nurses Day, President Droupadi Murmu honoured sister Gita Karmakar with the prestigious Florence Nightingale Award. Since the past four decades, Karmakar has not only been tending to patients with love and care but helping health administration in pushing ahead the vaccination programme and promoting institutional delivery in remote corners in Jalpaiguri.An Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) attached with Belakoba Rural Hospital in Jalpaiguri, few weeks before her superannuation, the state health department nominated her for the award. Colleagues and senior health officials said as a health supervisor, Karmakar played a major role in various public health outreaches like TB, thalassaemia, reproductive health and vaccination programmes."She is hard-working, efficient and would take hardly any leave. The humane side of her made her popular with the patients. She was really good at documenting various records. We are proud that she received this coveted honour among the nursing fraternity," said Dr Pritam Bose, BMO (Jalpaiguri Sadar).Officials said Karmakar was responsible for the cold chain point, which is crucial to ensure that all vaccines, mostly for the universal vaccine programmes, that go to various places in the block, are maintained properly.Karmakar was among the 15 nurses across India to receive the honour at the event held in New Delhi on Tuesday.