“Great World Need For More Nurses”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28894, 14 May 1959, Page 11

“Great World Need For More Nurses”

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, May 13. i A world in which 1500 million ’ out of 2500 million people were : underfed and in which a rela- i tively high proportion were with- : out education, needed nurses and teachers, the Prime Minister (Mr ■ Nash) told delegates attending : a study conference being held ; in Wellington under the sponsor- 1 ship of the South Pacific Regional 1 Group of the International- Council 1 of Nurses. “Your profession must be a vocation. Nurses cannot do their work as well as they do unless they are dedicated to it,” he contended. “Some nurses dedicate their lives to their work and take nothing for it,” he said. “You bring more joy and happiness to sufferers than anyone at any time.” The numerical strength of nurses would have to be increased to an extraordinary degree, he added. Commenting upon the low standard of living that existed in many countries in the area represented by delegates attending the conference, Mr Nash said it was a collective responsibility to see that underfed people had enough to eat and an education to understand what life meant. “It is not our job to look after the people who are well and comfortably housed. It is our job to contribute to the efforts being made to bring others up to our level,” he said. The work of the Colombo Plan and the countries participating in its many projects was praised by Mr Nash. “If the spirit of your vocation is in the heart and the mind,

nurses can keep people alive who would normally die,” said Mr Nash, and in support of this claim referred to the great work of Florence Nightingale. He urged the conference to continue its efforts to provide a more satisfactory service in the Pacific area and hoped that the discussion to be held during the week would be an added contribution towards that objective.