12.05.2015.

The International Nurses Day marked in MMA

The International Nurses Day was ceremonially marked today in the Amphitheater of the Military Medical Academy. On this occasion, Minister of Defence Bratislav Gasic awarded the traditional acknowledgement to the MMA Nurse of the Year to Dragana Lazarevic, Head Nurse at the General Surgery Clinic.

Congratulating the holiday, Minister Gasic stated that, during official meetings with colleagues from the entire world, one of the most important topics had always been military medical cooperation, and the fact that MMA was among the top five international institutions of the kind.

- This is your merit, you result, which has been continually created at MMA for years – Minister Gasic stressed, adding that the medical staff would be greatly enforced with admission of 40 new colleagues. Aware of the gravity of the profession and the lack in staff, Minister of Defence stressed that open announcement for admission of another 100 nurses in the institution was planned.

Gasic also announced that the task to be achieved next year was the improvement of the status of al members of the defence system, and therefore medical workers as well.

According to representative of Head of MMA Colonel Prof. Dr. Zoran Segrt, MMA had always had quality nurse staff that had proved itself in daily work, in peacetime and in wartime, and that one of the reasons for that was the systematic and organized investment in the development of the profession.

- One of our priorities is investing in education of nurses and medical technicians. The developed international cooperation we have, especially under the auspices of the European network of medical schools, significantly improves the quality of this education – Colonel Segrt stressed, reminding that the former College for medical nurses had given great results and that the path was also paved for future generations of nurses, with the goal of foundation of such school within the Medical Faculty of MMA.

Colonel Segrt stated that he was aware of the gravity of the work of nurses, that they were the first and the last contact with a patient and that without them, their knowledge and skills, doctor’s and technical equipment could never provide the full performance.

MMA Head Nurse Verica Milovanovic underlined the contribution to treatment and betterment of the ill that nurses and medical technicians had provided daily for years, adding that, although technological development was in progress in medicine, a kind word and a warm touch could not be replaced by any machine.

The International Nurses Day is celebrated on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth, whose work greatly contributed to the formation of contemporary professional nursehood.