Nursing education in the 11th plan
September 18th, 2007
Following is from a PIB release.
Inaugurating the College of Nursing of the Lady Hardinge Medical College and Associated Hospital, today, the Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss said the concept of nursing has expanded over the years and is no longer confined to the hospitals and patient care alone. Today, the nurses are the sheet anchor of our total health care delivery system. Our main aim is to provide primary health care, including the preventive, promotive and rehabilitative services, as close to the doorsteps of the people as possible. Smt. Sheila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi, Smt. Panabaka Lakshmi, Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Shri Naresh Dayal, Secretary (HFW), Dr. R.K. Srivastava, DGHS, Dr. Deepak Pantal, Vice-Chancellor, Delhi University and other senior officials from the Ministry and Medical Institutions were also present.
The following is the text of the Health Minister’s speech:
“Training school for Nurses in the LHMC started very modestly in 1916 with 11 probationers admitted to the school for training every year. This has been expanded to admit 55 pupil nurses each year. The school provides training facilities for diploma course in nursing.
Keeping in mind to improve the quality of nursing services and need for training more graduate Nurses we have upgraded the School of Nursing into College of Nursing. We are in the process of upgrading 2 more Schools of Nursing into College of Nursing in RML Hospital and Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. I would also like to congratulate the first batch of students who have just taken the admission in this prestigious institution. We are upgrading the Schools of Nursing, which are attached with Medical Colleges into Colleges of Nursing in the country.
Nursing binds the human society with a silken bond of love and affection. We may take it as the best example of national integrity, as the nurses serve the humanity without prejudice of caste, colour, creed, region or language. The pioneers like Florence Nightingale and Mother Teressa have built the bridges of international understanding and cooperation with their sense of service and self-sacrifice.
The nursing profession occupies a strategic position in the primary health care network. They are the mainstay of our health care delivery system who take the services to the doorsteps of the people in the villages, remote and tribal areas including economically weaker sections in cities and towns. Hence, nurses are being trained for unconventional roles that of promoting health practices, educating people about disease prevention, offering family welfare services, counseling and motivation. They are the ones who provide the most vital maternal and child health care services to the community.
The role of nurses is very vital in this endeavor. A large number of nursing personnel are required under NRHM to serve at Primary Health Centers. The Nursing educational Institutions will be strengthened to improve the quality of the training and additional Nursing educational institutions will be established under NRHM. In the strategic framework for Nursing during XIth five-year plan we have identified 230 districts in the country where there are no Auxiliary Nurse – midwives (ANM) and Graduate Nurse – midwives (GNM) institutions. It is proposed to open new ANM and GNM Schools in these districts during the XIth Plan period. It is also proposed to establish 4 Regional Colleges of Excellence with state of art facilities to improve the quality of Nursing Education in the country. A provision of Rs. 319 crores has been proposed for XIth Plan for the strengthening of Nursing Education in the country.
At present about 9.05 lakhs nurses so far registered with various state Nursing Councils in India. There are about 1597 nursing schools and about 833 B.Sc. (N) Colleges and 97 M.Sc (N) colleges are functioning in the country with capacity to train 79850 diploma nurses, 41650 graduate nurses and 1940 post graduate nurses per year respectively. However, there is a need for expanding the training facilities and also equally sanctioning the additional nursing posts for adopting optimum nurse patient ratio. Keeping in view the need to review the existing training facilities for nurses and additional resources have been earmarked for their expansion. At the same time, qualitative aspects should not be overlooked. We should equip them with better skills and higher education. We should also take care to ensure best possible utilization of available trained manpower so that their skills are not wasted.
The services rendered by nurses can never be compensated in terms of money. Nurses should not compromise the spirit of the profession for mere monetary reasons. Therefore, there is a need to rededicate to introspect and to see how best the quality of nursing care can be provided to needy patients in the hospitals and community.
I wish all the success to the Nursing College”.
Entry Filed under: Medical, nursing and pharmacy colleges,Nursing Colleges,Odisha, others and the center