LONDON: Queen Elizabeth has provided the British National Health Service (NHS) The George Cross – the highest civil galantry award – in recognition of 73 years of dedicated service, including during Covid-19 pandemic.
Honor was only collectively awarded twice before, and only once by the Queen.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the award was a symbol of the nation’s gratitude.
“NHS staff have cared for us and our friends and family at the front line of pandemic for more than a year, and I have witnessed their courage first,” Johnson, who was treated by the NHS in intensive care with Covid-19 last year, said.
“I knew the whole England was behind me in paying tribute and gave thanks for everything NHS did for us, not only last year, but from the beginning.” NHS was founded in 1948 as the center of social reform after World War Dua, with a mission to provide a comprehensive universal health service.
NHS executive head Simon Stevens said the honor recognized the skills, affection and fortitude of staff right across the service in response to the worst pandemic in a century.
“Out of the dark times it has become the best of what it means to be a guardian and a health professional,” he said.
“In the face of the difficulties we have seen the work of the extraordinary team, not right across the NHS but involves hundreds of thousands of volunteers, millions of caregivers, key workers and the British public who have played an indispensable role in helping health services to be guarded by hundreds of thousands of patients who are sick Severely by Coronavirus.
“Cross George was first assessed collectively to the people of Malta in 1942 by Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, and for Royal Ulster Constabulary by the Queen in 1999.