OVER 2,000 caregivers enjoyed a rare opportunity to be pampered yesterday during the Nurses' Day celebration hosted by SingHealth at the Outram Campus.

The nurses were served ice kachang by Minister Lim Swee Say as well as two of their bosses. Some were also ferried around in trishaws while Mr Lim serenaded the crowd with the song You Light Up My Life.

'Riding the trishaw was nothing. The hard part was the singing,' said Mr Lim, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

Nurses' Day is designed to honour nurses for their excellent service, dedication and commitment to the profession.

'People think nursing is a degrading job, but seeing (Mr Lim) do this, it really makes us feel good about ourselves,' said Ms Siti Fatimah, a trainee nurse from Nanyang Polytechnic. The 18-year-old was one of the recipients of the Dr Della Lee Nursing Bursary award, which will provide her $4,000 to supplement the cost of her studies.

Other awards and scholarships, including the prestigious SingHealth-Lee Foundation Excellence in Nursing Award, were also given out yesterday. They recognised nurses who have made outstanding contributions to the profession.

'All these (scholarships and awards) highlight the opportunities available in nursing today,' said Madam Lew Lian Choo, an Excellence in Nursing Award recipient. 'You can upgrade yourself, get promoted, or move into related fields like teaching nurses,' said the 54-year-old, who was paid $99 a month when she started her nursing career 37 years ago.

Mr Lim said it was important to invest in nurses through promotions, better pay and professional development courses.

'Nurses are full of passion. I can't imagine someone going into nursing for the salary because if not for the passion, they would never last the distance,' he said.

Mr Mohamad Farnil, 31, a senior staff nurse who was awarded a scholarship to further his studies in Australia, exemplified that passion.

'I'll be a nurse till the day I die,' he said.