Brigadier General Ernest Crosby Saka Jnr, the Commander of the 37 Military Hospital, who gave the advice, paid glowing tribute to nurses for their hard work in the service of mankind.

The week-long celebration is to honour the memory of Florence Nightingale, the Mother of Nursing and a celebrated English social reformer, and statistician who laid the foundations of the nursing profession by organising the treatment and tending of wounded soldiers during the Crimean War.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency during the Health Walk/Launch Brig. Gen. Saka said the Nightingale’s Week celebration, which was instituted at the 37 Military Hospital five years ago, was also in recognition of the exceptional services and contributions of nurses to the hospital and to society.

He pledged the commitment of the hospital to providing the best of services to its clients using the requisite and qualified human resource.  This year’s celebration is on the theme: “Military Nightingales': Combatting Environmental Degradation Towards Achieving Sustainable Development Goals with other Stakeholders."

The activities lined up for the celebration includes workshops and Awards on Friday, September 22.  The celebrations will be climaxed by a Thanksgiving Ceremony on Sunday September 24 at the 37 Presby Methodist Church.

The Health Walk, which brought together more than 60 Nurses, was to drum home the importance of regular exercises and the need to take good care of the environment for the safety of the present and future generations. The 3.5 Kilometre walk started from the premises of the hospital, amidst brand music, through some principal streets of Accra and ended at the Hospital.

Florence Nightingale was a trailblazing figure in nursing who greatly affected 19th and 20th century policies around proper care. She was known for her night rounds to aid the wounded, establishing her image as the 'Lady with the Lamp.'

Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy, on May 12, 1820. Part of a wealthy family, Nightingale defied the expectations of the time and pursued what she saw as her God-given calling of nursing.   During the Crimean War, she and a team of nurses improved the unsanitary conditions at a British base hospital, greatly reducing the death count. Her writings sparked worldwide health care reform, and in 1860 she established St. Thomas' Hospital and the Nightingale Training School for Nurses. She died on August 13, 1910, in London.

The Crimean War was a military conflict fought from October 1853 to February 1856 in which the Russian Empire lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia. The immediate cause involved the rights of Christian minorities in the Holy Land, which was a part of the Ottoman Empire. The French promoted the rights of Roman Catholics, while Russia promoted those of the Eastern Orthodox Church.