Indira Gandhi Peace Award for doctors, nurses for their role during COVID pandemic

Mumbai: The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development-2022 was awarded to the country's medical fraternity as a whole for their stellar role in taking care of millions who suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. 

The award, instituted by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, would be presented to representatives of the Indian Medical Association and the Trained Nurses Organisation of India, who largely represent the medical fraternity in the country.

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''The jury of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development chaired by former Chief Justice of India T S Thakur wishes to honour this heroic endeavour by awarding the Indira Gandhi Prize for 2022 to the Co warriors of India in grateful recognition of their actions during 2020 and 2021 at the worst of the pandemic,'' the trust said in a statement.

The trust said since there is no national representation of the medical fraternity as a whole, so to accept the prize the jury invites two organisations that most widely represent doctors and nurses in India -- the Indian Medical Association with about 3,50,000 doctors as members in 1,700 local branches and the Trained Nurses Organisation of India with about 3,80,000 members.

''Together they are symbolic of the medical fraternity in India who are the recipients of the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, 2022,'' it said.

The award is being given to the country's medical fraternity for their heroic endeavours, contribution, sacrifices, commitment, compassion, courage, skill and steadfastness while performing their duties selflessly and caring for the millions who suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement said.

In this period, the trust said, the medical fraternity was the brightest source of hope and one saw at first-hand how doctors, nurses, paramedics, karmacharis and volunteers stepped up to the task of handling an epidemic they had never seen before on a scale that was unprecedented.

The medical fraternity across the board worked long hours with little thought to their own welfare. Many doctors and nurses lost their lives. They tended to patients for long hours at great risk to themselves, unmindful of the price they and their families might be called upon to pay.

The award consists of Rs 1 crore, a trophy and a citation.