Florence Nightingale an outpouring of generous donations. Sidney Herbert served as honorary secretary of the fund and the Duke of Cambridge was chairman. Nightingale was considered a pioneer in the concept of "medical tourism" as well, based on her 1856 letters describing spas in the Ottoman Empire. She detailed the health conditions, physical descriptions, dietary information, and other vital details of patients whom she directed there. The treatment there was significantly less expensive than in Switzerland. Nightingale had £45,000 at her disposal from the Nightingale Fund to set up the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas' Hospital on 9 July 1860. The
SRM Nightingale School Valliammai Society began its educational activities in 1969 by starting a Primary School in the name of Florence Nightingale and upgrading the status to Matriculation Higher Secondary School in 1981. In 1984, SRM ventured into higher education with the launch of the Valliammai Polytechnic. The year 1985 saw the birth of the SRM Engineering College, the flagship institution of the group. During 1992-93 the Group ventured into medical education and started SRM College of Nursing and SRM College of Pharmacy. During 1993-94 two more medical institutions namely SRM School of Nursing and SRM College of Physiotherapy were added. During the