Brigadier SV Saraswati received the highest national award a nurse can achieve
In a virtual ceremony on Monday the President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind conferred the National Florence Nightingale Award, the highest national distinction a nurse can achieve, upon Brigadier SV Saraswati, deputy director-General of Military Nursing Service (MNS) for 2020.
She was honored with the award for her selfless contribution as a nurse administrator.
“As a renowned operation theatre nurse, she has assisted in more than 3,000 lifesaving and emergency surgeries and has trained residents, operation room nursing trainees, and auxiliary staff in her career,” the defence ministry said in a statement.
Brig Saraswati is from the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh and was commissioned into the MNS on December 28, 1983.
She has served in the MNS for more than three and half decades, especially in perioperative nursing.
According to the government statement, she has also served at several pan-India Army hospitals and United Nations Peace Keeping Forces in Congo, where she has done various outreach activities for the troops and trained more than 1,000 soldiers and families in basic life support.
She was also bestowed with several other honors for her constant and gallant endeavors towards humanity. She received the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Commendation (2005), the United Nations Medal (MONOC) (2007), and the Chief of the Army Staff Commendation for her outstanding service (2015).
