Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K)

For her outstanding commitment to enhancing healthcare services in Kashmir, Firdousa Jan, a healthcare worker in Srinagar, J&K, was awarded the prestigious National Florence Nightingale Award in June 2023. The award recognises meritorious services rendered by the nurses and nursing professionals to the society.

It is special, said Firdousa, because she travelled a difficult path to reach this point.

“I grew up without a father and my mother was the sole earning member of the family. She earned a livelihood from a small parcel of land where we had apple trees,” the Florence Nightingale awardee told Gaon Connection.

Firdousa studied at a government school in Charar-i-Sharief in Budgam district of Kashmir. She said she had to borrow books from classmates as she could not afford to buy them. But Firdousa’s mother was a steadfast source of encouragement. “It was because of my mother that I went into the field of healthcare,” she said.

The National Florence Nightingale Award was instituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India in the year 1973 as a mark of recognition for the meritorious services rendered by the nurses and nursing professionals to the society. These are given in the honour of Florence Nightingale who is revered as the founder of modern nursing.

Talking to Gaon Connection, Firdousa said: “My mother insisted I pursue a career in medicine and pushed me to study nursing. She believed nurturing and healing people was a noble profession. I was reluctant and scared of hospitals but I went ahead nevertheless.”

“I used to believe that nursing was simply giving medications or injections to patients. However, I learnt it was a lot more. The tears and gratitude of patients remind me every day as to why I chose this profession, and why I keep going,” she added.

Firdousa earned a diploma in general nursing and midwifery from Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), and in 2002, graduated with a B.Sc. in nursing from IGNOU, and an M.Sc. in Mental Health Nursing from SKIMS. She is now waiting to complete her PhD.

For her outstanding commitment to enhancing healthcare services in Kashmir, Firdousa Jan, a healthcare worker in Srinagar, J&K, was awarded the prestigious National Florence Nightingale Award in June 2023.

During her masters, Firdousa was assigned to a drug de-addiction facility in Srinagar where she focussed on psychiatric nursing. She met students who were victims of substance abuse and she wanted to see how she as a nurse could help them.

“I recognised that I needed to step beyond my comfort zone and learn more about what compelled people to seek drugs,” she said.

Firdousa went on to write two manuals, Palliative Care, and Operating Room, to help students understand the complexities of this specialised sector. She also authored several research papers on mental health and psychiatrist nursing, and essays on a variety of healthcare themes, several of which were published in local media outlets. She has organised several awareness camps on substance abuse and counsels adolescents regularly.

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Firdousa was offered a job as a nurse in Saudi Arabia a few years ago, but she turned it down. Even though she could have accepted the offer and joined her husband who is a doctor there. “I wanted to serve my country,” she said, simply. So, she chose to remain in India with her two children.

Post-COVID, when the Firdousa Jan was off-duty, she worked with a non- profit for a year. She visited various slum areas where people were reluctant to be vaccinated.

Talking about the COVID-19 pandemic, Firdousa said it was tough going. “The protective gear was irritating and uncomfortable to wear at times. The first 24-hour isolation assignment I had to undertake was difficult. I was unable to spend Eid with my children, who were left at my neighbour’s,” she recalled.

But that did not deviate her from her mission of healthcare. Post-COVID, when she was off-duty, she worked with a non- profit for a year. She visited various slum areas where people were reluctant to be vaccinated. “I convinced them that getting immunised was a good thing for them,” she said.

At present, Firdousa is a tutor at Madr-e- Meharban Institute of Nursing Sciences and Research, Srinagar. She also studied at the institute.

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“Firdousa Jan was a student at our college in the 1990s. She was committed and brilliant. Everyone was pleased with her performance as an advocate and counsellor,” Munira Kachroo, the principal of MMINSR, told Gaon Connection.

“She has done us proud winning the Florence Nightingale Award. We are proud of her. She is a source of pride for Jammu and Kashmir, and the college,” Kachroo added.

For Firdousa, her calling as a nurse is not just personally satisfying to her as she is providing comfort and help to so many people, but it is also a message to her fellow women. “To all those who believe that women can only be housewives, I say to them, women can work outside the home with dignity and modesty.”

“I encountered so many challenges in my work that involved interacting with the public. But I was determined to prove what a woman is capable of. I persevered and demonstrated my abilities. Today, I am proud to represent Jammu and Kashmir,” she concluded.