Tag Archives: Muslim Nurses of India

Meet Naziya & Shabrun, two Muslim nurses from Bihar awarded by President Murmu for meritorious service

BIHAR:

The young nurses believe that more Muslim girls across the country should opt for the nursing profession to serve society.

Patna (Bihar) :

Two Muslim nurses Naziya Parveen and Shabrun Khatun from Bihar were awarded this year’s National Florence Nightingale Awards (NFNA) by the President of India, Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan earlier this month. 

The National Florence Nightingale Awards (NFNA) were instituted in 1973 by the Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as a mark of recognition for the meritorious services rendered by nurses and nursing professionals to the society.

Sajeeda Banu of Karnataka, Ahmedullah Wani of Jammu & Kashmir, and Mohammed Kasim AB of Lakshadweep are the other Muslims who were awarded this year. 

She was among 51 people from around the country who were awarded in different categories by the President. Her citation states that she has contributed to the establishment of the labor room and for helping in preparing the standard operating procedure.

Meet Naziya & Shabrun, two Muslim nurses from Bihar awarded by President  Murmu for meritorious service – TwoCircles.net
32-year-old Naziya Parveen receiving the award from the President Murmu. | Picture by arrangement

Hailing from Sultanganj, Bhagalpur, Naziya is the eldest of three sisters. She is married to a microbiologist Mohammad Shams of Gaya. After completing her high secondary education in Dumka, Jharkhand she studied nursing for GNM at JawaharLal Medical College, Bhagalpur, and worked with Jamia Hamdard in New Delhi for six years. It was challenging to move from Delhi to Araria but her family supported her as “there isn’t much scope of work in Sadar Hospital.” 

“I feel quite proud to be awarded as our society does not recognize the work of nurses. I am elated for being a Muslim awardee as we don’t get nominated for such awards. I was asked if I was from Kashmir as I was wearing a hijab,” she said.  

Mother of two kids, Naziya has inspired other Muslim girls to take admission to nursing courses. Local newspapers in the state ran stories featuring her. 

“We need to change our attitude towards this profession. It is a good job and one can draw good income from it. The nursing course is such that even if one does not opt for a job, they can get the chance to serve from home and earn. I am of the view that more Muslim girls should study nursing as a profession,” she said. 

28-year-old Shabrun Khatun was awarded in the ANM (Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife) category. | Picture by arrangement

28-year-old Shabrun Khatun was awarded in the ANM (Auxiliary Nurse and Midwife) category. She works at Darbhanga Sadar primary health center. She had applied for the award previously but it was her work during Covid-19 that won her an award this year. She recalled how she went for a door-to-door screening of Covid-19 in April 2020 while being on fast and continued to work in 2021. 

Shabrun told TwoCircles.net that receiving the award from President Murmu was quite encouraging. 

Her journey to success has not been smooth. She had to work in local hospitals to support her family but this experience helped her. “I was good at studies in school and got prizes for my co-curricular activities. I wanted to be a medical doctor. I was selected for MBBS at a private medical college but did not have enough money to take admission. I also wished to be an officer in administration but my father’s proximity to doctors got me into nursing.”

Shabrun’s father Mohammad Akhtar is a tailor who would stitch clothes for operation theaters of hospitals nearby. She had cleared the preliminary test for selection in the police department but finally settled for a nursing course after her graduation in Zoology from her hometown of Rosera Bazar in Samastipur district in Bihar. 

Shabrun said that she had to face unfriendly treatment in society after she chose to become a nurse. “But seeing my success now, everyone is happy,” she said. 

She is of the view that Muslim girls who are not able to qualify for MBBS should consider nursing as a career as “it gives the satisfaction of serving humanity in one small way.” 

In December this year, she would be felicitated on the foundation day of the Darbhanga district. 

Sami Ahmad is a journalist based in Patna, Bihar. He tweets @samipkb

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by Sami Ahmad, TwoCircles.net / November 25th, 2022

Muslim nursing graduates from West Bengal university get 100% job placement

WEST BENGAL:

Aliah University is a state government-run autonomous university having three campuses in New Town in West Bengal. | Picture by arrangement

The inaugural batch of the nursing course in a university in West Bengal, designed especially for women, has achieved this success. 

West Bengal:

Almost the entire batch of this year’s graduates of the B.Sc Nursing course at Aliah University have got job placements. Fifty-three out of fifty-four graduating students, mostly Muslim women have been selected as nursing staff in various medical colleges and hospitals run by the government of West Bengal. 

This is the inaugural batch of the nursing course designed especially for women. It is for the first time that almost an entire batch of a program in Aliah University has gotten placement.  

Aliah University is a state government-run autonomous university having three campuses in New Town in West Bengal. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs in different Engineering, Arts, Science, Management, and Nursing subjects. Previously known as Mohammedan College of Calcutta, it was elevated as a university in 2008. It is a minority institution and hence a majority of its students come from marginalized groups and communities like Muslims and lower castes.

Usha Mallick, the head of the department of nursing told TwoCircles.net, “This is an unprecedented success for the department of nursing because these are the first batch of graduates. We at Aliah University are extremely proud of our graduates who worked hard.” 

“This kind of placement will get us a great standing in the state as well as the country. This is great news also because all the girls in this department, like most students of Aliah university, come from extreme socio-economically backward families living in remote rural districts of West Bengal,” she added. 

Usha Malick is head of the department of nursing at the university. | Photo by author arrangement

“We are thankful to the Mamata Banerjee government for helping the university start the course, and to the National Medical College for providing practical training for nursing students,” she said while adding that Aliah is the only state university that runs a nursing course without its medical college and hospital facilities.

Educating kids from extremely backward districts like Murshidabad
The news brought cheers to several young women. Lutfa Khatoon is from Murshidabad, a densely Muslim populated area (67%) where the state of education is extremely poor. According to Census 2011, the literacy rate of the district is 66.60%, which is far below the national average of 74.04% and the state’s average of 77.08%. The district holds the bottommost position in the rank of literacy rates since the Census 1951.

“In Murshidabad education is not the priority in general, let alone education of girls. When I got admission to the course, people in my area said I am getting training to become a nursemaid. My placement has broken that impression,” Khatoon told TwoCircles.net. She is posted in Murshidabad medical college and hospital. 

Firoja, Lutfa’s batchmate, told TwoCircles.net that studying was not the only thing she invested hard work in. “These four years of the course people would come to my house in Murshidabad and taunt my parents that your daughter will be ruined because they gave me the freedom to move to Calcutta to study,” said Firoja who is posted at Anup Nagar primary hospital, Murshidabad.

She mentioned that she faced financial hardships but thanked the university for providing her scholarship. 

Aatika, Lutfa’s classmate told TwoCircles.net that people in the rural areas of West Bengal say that “sending girls to the city for education is like providing them with opportunities to be spoiled.” But her getting a nursing job has broken the patriarchal mindset and inspired many parents to send their daughters to study. 

“In my village, most people marry off their daughters after they pass the tenth class. I am very lucky that my family supported me. It is because of them that I got a very respectful job,” she added.

Oldest modern style educational institute in Asia
The university is one of the oldest educational institutes in Asia. Established by Warren Hastings, the British governor-general of East India Company in 1780. Calcutta Mohammedan College, as it was called by Hastings. Established in the form of a madrasa school, it is one of the oldest modern-style educational institutions in Asia and the first of its kind in India. It taught Natural Philosophy, Grammar, Logic, Arithmetic, Astronomy, Geometry, Arabic, Persian, Theology and Islamic Law, and Theory and Rhetoric. 

Good career placement not new for Aliah University
Dr Mohammad Reyaz, assistant professor of journalism at the university told TwoCircles.net that good career placements are not new to the university. 

“Earlier it used to be a Madrasa. Not many people know that it has been turned into a university which offers courses in Engineering, Electronics and Communication, Business Management and nursing among other subjects. So these kinds of placements do help break the stereotype which tries to reduce the image of this premier institution as a madrasa. Not only do the students of nursing and engineering departments get good placements but students of the Arabic department also get jobs in prestigious firms like Amazon,” said Dr Reyaz.

Sufi Parween is a fellow at SEEDS-TCN Mentorship Program. Shentweets at @sufiparween84

source: http://www.twocircles.net / TwoCircles.net / Home> Lead Story / by Sufi Parween, TwoCircles.net / August 08th, 2022