GUWAHATI, March 23, 2022- NEPNI Group of Institutions, a premier Institute under NEPNI Trust (North East Paramedical and Nursing Institute), located in Alikash in Kamrup organized its annual Lamp Lighting and Oath Taking for nursing students at the Srimanta Sankaradeva International Auditorium, Kalakhetra with great fervor.
During the event, students enrolled under ANM (Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery), GNM (General Nursing Midwifery) and B. Sc. Nursing professional programs took the Florence Nightingale Pledge, a modified version of the Hippocratic Oath composed by Mrs. Lystra Gretter, Chairman of the Committee for the Farland Training School of Nurses, Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan and first administered to a graduating class in 1893. The Lamp Lighting was in reverence to Florence Nightingale, nicknamed “The Lady with the Lamp” an English social reformer, statistician and founder of modern nursing. The phrase is said to have come from a report in The Times and popularized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his 1857 poem. Oath-taking is being practiced to instill the rules and principles among the nurses and has taken the form of a tradition to reckon with in the nursing fraternity.
The Lamp Lighting Ceremony was inaugurated by Chief Guest and former Governor of Meghalaya Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary and Registrar of Assam Nurses’ Midwives; and Health Visitors’ Council, Ellora Brahma. Some 150 nursing students participated in the Lamp Lighting tradition and the Florence Nightingale’s Pledge administered by Mrs. Bina Bora, Principal GNM, NEPNI School of Nursing.
Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary, former Governor of Meghalaya speaking on the occasion as Chief Guest stated that in 1947 the expectancy of life was between 30 and 32 years. Now, 75 years after the expectancy of life has reached 70 years. All this has been possible for the immense contribution of the health sector.” He said that there is no denying about the critical role played by medics and paramedics in the last two years, without whom, we would have seen the worse happen. Nurses are therefore an astute component of the society who are dispensers of human wellness, he concluded.
Guest of Honor, Mrinalini Devi Sarma, Vice-President of Asom Sahitya Sabha, said that it is because of the interest that NEPNI Trust has dispensed in imparting quality nursing education in the years past that it has reached where it is now. It has succeeded in training students in different professional programs to join the growing health care sector. Its diligence in health care education and social action for the betterment of human kind has helped itself to earn a distinct name in the nursing education sector.
NEPNI Trust gave away the 2022 NEPNI Award of Excellence for Meritorious Academic Achievement to Dr. Nani Gopal Mahanta, Advisor to the Education Department, Government of Assam and the NEPNI Award of Excellence for Meritorious Service in the Health Sector to the Nursing Community for Extraordinary Services rendered throughout the pandemic.
Applauding students for their choice of the nursing profession, Professor Usha Mallick, Head of the Department, Department of Nursing, Aliah University informed that nursing is undoubtedly the largest healthcare workforce in the world. While doctors spend a maximum of an hour per patient, nurses in turn are available to provide care 24x7, 365 days a year.
NEPNI Education Scholarship was awarded to Asif Ikbal in continued support of his Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor of Medicine (MBBS). Certificate of Appreciation was awarded to Rana Pratim Biswas as a gesture of recognition for the perseverance, strength and alacrity that he displays while dealing with his special ability and for being an understanding son to a committed mother. Late Fazir Ahmed and Makib Ali were awarded in appreciation for their dedicated services and courtesies received by NEPNI Group of Institutions. Ms. Juhi Das, a student of Class X, Monfort School, Guwahati for her special astounding onstage performance.
Speaking on the occasion, Executive President and visionary of NEPNI Trust, Babul Ali, said that it is his aim to make NEPNI an all-inclusive center of excellence in nursing education in Assam and the region. He is confident that with necessary participation from required quarters, NEPNI Trust shall be able to expand its present infrastructure to accommodate more programs and disciplines. The valedictory speech was given by Mrs. Khursida Begum, Trustee of NEPNI Trust. Different cultural items followed the event.