Holding the Joyee Award, nurse Melina Rumba Lama, born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal, spoke frankly about the ground realities of nursing. With over 12 years in the profession, she admitted with a laugh she rarely has time for herself. She moves back and forth between being a nurse at IQ City Medical College Hospital in Durgapur and a mom at home, with little room to pause. But she came back to one point again and again: the pay for nurses in India needs to improve.
The Joyee Awards event, held every year by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) West Bengal and its Indian Women Network (IWN), honours caregivers and 50 institutes that have excelled in their profession. The awards event was part of the 9th Nursing Conclave — one of the few platforms which places nurses and their concerns, centrestage.