(June 02, 2011) The tireless effort of Sister Shobhana, who works with HIV/AIDS patients,
has received national recognition. The nun, who belongs to Sisters of St. Joseph
of Cluny, was honoured with the National Florence Nightingale award for her outstanding
services in the health sector by President Pratibha Patil recently. “The award was
unexpected. I dedicate this honour to my team,” a modest Sister Shobhana said. She
is currently working at Sneha Sadan, a community centre for HIV/AIDS patients, in
Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu. “We bring the patients diagnosed with HIV/AIDS to our centre
and provide them with counselling and nutrition,” she said. The centre also takes
care of the children infected with the disease. “Right now we have 50 such children
staying with us.” Sister Shobhana, who completed her nursing and midwifery course
from St. Martha’s Hospital, Bangalore in 1993, said that they also organize awareness
programs on TB. After working for two years in the same hospital in which she studied,
she served in a remote village dispensary in Salem district of the state. Becoming
a household name in the country has not changed her much, she is her tireless self
serving with renewed zeal the marginalised and the down trodden. Currently she is
busy with a group of women, educating them about personal and environment hygiene,
nutrition, ante- natal, intra-natal and post-natal care.