Nurse Tejavath Susheela first in Telangana to receive National Florence Nightingale Award

Hyderabad: Tejavath Susheela from Telangana was conferred with the National Florence Nightingale Award (2022) for her nursing services in the state. She is the first recipient of this award from Telangana.

Tejavath Susheela, who has been hailed by many for her humanitarian efforts, had undergone an immense personal tragedy recently. Susheela, who saved the lives of several pregnant mothers by counselling them to take timely treatment and prevented many newborns from becoming motherless, lost her 19-year-old daughter, a medical student, just two months ago.

It is even more tragic to know that her daughter was allegedly mentally harassed by other students regarding her caste which led to her death by suicide.

On Thursday, President Draupadi Murmu presented the National Florence Nightingale Award to nursing professionals from various states for the year 2022-2023 at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday. Nurse Susheela is an Auxillary Nurse Midwife (ANM) at Erragunta Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Bhadradi Kothagudem district of Telangana State.

“Around 15 days ago, I received an official confirmation over email informing me about the award. The state and district officials were also informed over email from the Centre. Everyone, including my seniors, juniors and family members are happy about my award,” said Susheela, who joined nursing services in 1996 after completing Class 10 and her training as an ANM. She was the only girl to pass Class 10 from her village in Khammam in the late 1990s.

“I share the credit for my success equally with my supportive husband, who had taken care of the family while I was away on duty and shared other responsibilities,” added Susheela, who has a 24-year-old son doing his Masters in the US in mechanical engineering.

Speaking about her job that fetched her the prestigious award, Susheela said, “My work entails motivating pregnant women to come to the health centres for screening, bringing critical cases to the notice of doctors and facilitating shifting of patients to area hospitals, if required, follow up on cases, ensure 100% deliveries in government hospitals instead of at home, be associated with vaccination programmes, family planning programmes, tobacco control initiatives and other national health programmes.”

Susheela, who lives in Madhukur village, not only travels to her PHC but also to other villages, 7 to 8 km away, including hilly and tribal areas for field-level activities among people and patients.

Referring to her meeting with the president on Thursday, she said, “President ma'am congratulated us and told us to do good work and continue serving the nation.”

The National Florence Nightingale Award was instituted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, in 1973 in recognition of meritorious services by nurses and nursing professionals to society.