Aloysius Hettiarachchi

Today is International Nurses Day. We are deeply indebted to them for the services they provide. They are the frontline soldiers in the battle against Covid-19 in our country right at this moment. Perhaps one of them saved my life too, on a day in 1975 at the general hospital, Colombo. I got myself admitted one evening to the hospital for a cystoscopic examination of the bladder on the following morning. I was told not to drink anything until after the medical procedure. Following morning I was feeling very thirsty and drank water. The nurse who happened to be there and saw it said that she will tell the doctor not to do the operation on me as I would vomit and die on the table. So, I was not taken in and was sent home; she did her duty and may have saved me.

Today I see on the TV the nurses display their hero’s statue, that of Florence Nightingale.

In the UK they teach their children from the very young age to consider her as a national hero. I give below a link to a narrative by my grand daughter about a story of a nurse they were taught in the school. A week after this was recorded she was taken to an exhibition by her parents where the portrait of Nightingale was on display. She had immediately run up to the portrait and was seen touching it affectionately.