Why in News?

• The 94th Military Nursing Service Raising Day is being celebrated on 1st October 2019.

Highlights:

• On this day, nursing officers will rededicate themselves to render high quality, selfless nursing care to their patients by reading the Florence Nightingale Pledge on the occasion.
• The occasion is celebrated at the Army Hospital (Referral & Research), New Delhi.

Military Nursing Service (MNS):

• The MNS is the only all-women corps in the Armed Forces in India. It is a part of the Armed Forces Medical Services.
• It came into being on March 28, 1888, with the arrival of the first batch of 10 qualified British nurses in Bombay, to organize nursing in military hospitals in India.
• In 1893 it was designated as the Indian Army Nursing Service (IANS) and in 1902 as Queen Alexandra Military Nursing Service (QAMNS).
• In 1914 for the first time, nurses were enrolled in India and were attached to QAMNS.
• On October 1, 1926, a permanent nursing service for Indian troops was formed and was designated as the Indian Military Nursing Service (IMNS).
• On September 15, 1943, the IMNS officers became a part of the Indian Army and the members of the service became Commissioned Officers.
• After independence, the government constituted the MNS and the IMNS was subsumed in the MNS in 1950.
• The organization is headed at the Army Headquarters by the Additional Director General, MNS (ADGMNS) in the Rank of Major General and at command level by Brigadier MNS in the rank of Brigadier.