President tells nurses:

Consider your profession a social service

Rasika Somarathna

'President Mahinda Rajapaksa told a batch of newly recruited trainee nurses yesterday to consider nursing as not just a profession but a honourable social service. 'A smiling nurse and kind care could go a long way in giving strength to an ailing patient in his or her endeavour to recover from the illness, he said.

Addressing 2,500 new trainee nursing recruites at Temple Trees the President said that in the present era there was a big demand for quality nurses globally. In the context of Sri Lanka making impressive progress in many areas, there is a high international demand for Lankan nurses as well, he added.

President Rajapaksa on the occasion also advised the trainee nurses that they should never forget to honour their motherland with the same devotion and love, whatever heights they reach in knowledge and their profession.

Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena addressing the gathering noted that healthcare centres in the North and East which were in a dilapidated state due to conflict earlier have been fully restored.

He predicted further progress in the healthcare sector in the country during the coming years.

The event was attended by the chairman of the Public Service United Nurses Union Ven Muruttetuwe Ananda Thera, Deputy Health Minister Lalith Dissanayake, other senior health officials, WHO Sri Lanka Representative F R Metha, ICRC Representative Bob Mcrow, new trainee nurses and family members.