Minister’s Message on the International Day of Nurses |12 May 2022
Minister Vidot
‘The spirit of Florence Nightingale must live on’
“I am proud and overjoyed that another year has come around for us to commemorate the chivalry of nursing.
“We joined this profession because of our irresistible desire to improve human suffering. As such, our voices need to be continually leading; our hands to be incessantly touching and comforting; our hearts to be an echo chamber of love, compassion and healing. So then, let us, on this auspicious day, congratulate our colleagues and ourselves, especially those who have so been, for remaining true to our profession.
“Today we celebrate our nurses who continue to serve on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic. We also honour those who held the fort in other areas, providing much-needed care to the rest of the population.
“As we celebrate International Nurses Day, let us also look deeply at how we can further develop the profession of ours – broadly and deeply. Speaking as an insider let me be frank in asserting that our health care system and our nursing profession have many challenges which need to be addressed in order to deliver better quality of care. We need a resilient, highly competent, and strong nursing workforce that will be able to deliver patient-centred and culturally sensitive care. “The government will continue to invest in high-quality healthcare education and training and continue to encourage and recognise the hard work of people in the nursing profession.
“As a profession we therefore need to try harder and harder and harder to be better at what we do.
“From the brink of a pandemic and at the cusp of a new decade, now more than ever before we need to up our game and be ahead of our time. We can do wonders in health care even without sophisticated machinery. Think back about Florence Nightingale whose birthday we are celebrating today and how little she had but could do so much for humanity with the little she had.
“The spirit of Florence Nightingale must live on. So too must the spirit of all the exemplary Seychellois nurses who have passed on. Many names and their accomplishments come to mind. Such spirits must remain alive in the souls of every graduating student-nurse and every senior nurse who earns a management position or a doctorate in nursing. Such spirits are our guiding light, fuelling the lamp of nursing.
“Let us invest in ourselves to be as successful as we can be in our fight for our professional rights and obligations and in our fight for better health for our country and the world.”
Peggy Vidot
Minister for Health