La Sagesse University marked yesterday the International Nurses Day celebrated on May 12 of each year at the invitation of its president, Khalil Shalfun. The event was organized in collaboration with the Order of Nurses in Lebanon and the Francophone University Agency, and under the auspices of minister of health, Ghassan Hasbani. On the occasion, La Sagesse School of Public Health held an exhibition and conference under the theme: “A voice to lead, achieving the sustainable development goals’, which saw the participation of Bahij Arbid, who represented Minister Hasbani and the president of the Order of Nurses, Nuhad Dumit. The dean of public health, Professor Ramez Chaheen, pointed out to a serious shortage in nursing staff in the country in general, and in hospitals, in particular. Likewise, Shalfun stressed the need to spread awareness on the importance of the nursing profession and promoting the good impact the sector has at the level of national health. Dumit, for her part, disclosed a 3-year programme to build nursing capacities set by the Order and involving training of men and women nurses inside and outside of hospitals in order to train their peers in their localities and normalize nursing standards across the country. Arbid, in his turn, said that the development of the role of a nurse has generated vast needs for key, but still underprovided, specialties, like for example, emergency and geriatric medicine. He underlined the necessity of provision of similar disciplines to address the largest part of local needs to this effect, and always, in coordination with the Order of Nurses, the universities and the ministry of education. There is a growing need, Arbid maintained, to review the law regulating the nursing profession, as well as bridging the gap between college and vocational education in nursing. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, May 16, 2017)