Rs 319cr to upgrade nursing

By OUR CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, Sept. 11: Union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss said on Tuesday that the government is taking corrective measures to upgrade the
nursing services in the country, which have so far remained a widely neglected area of the healthcare system. To overcome the shortage of nurses in the country, government has earmarked Rs 319 crores for the upgradation and development of nursing services in the 11th Five Year Plan.

The country needs another million nurses to cater to its population, said Mr Ramadoss. "The work of nurses is not recognised and they are a neglected lot. But it will no longer be a area which we will ignore. They are very valuable and integral part of the health care services," he said while inaugurating the upgraded school of nursing at Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC) and Associated Hospitals in the capital. Mr Ramadoss said that the government is planning to open four centres of excellence in the country in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata and later in Guwahati.

Stating that there is a great requirement for nurses abroad and in India, Mr Ramadoss said that the health ministry has proposed to improve and streamline nursing education to make it more focused and specialised.

"We are trying to improve standard of nursing education and are streamlining the syllabus. Our focus is now to give training to nurses on specialised fields of cardiology, trauma and emergency services and anaesthesia," he said.

In India there is one nurse for 2,250 people while the number of people served by one nurse ranges from 150 to 200 in developed countries, according to government figures.

Even developing countries like Indonesia, Kenya, Srilanka and Thailand have a better nurse population ratio.

Official estimates reveal that the nurse patient ratio varies form 1:5 to 1:60 or 1:1000 in different institutions across the country. Under the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM), the government requires about 2 lakh nursing personnel to be able to provide comprehensive health care in the country. Among the corrective measures being taken to meet the requirements of NRHM, the Centre has advised the state governments to enhance the capacity of the auxiliary nurse midwives [ANMs] and general nurse midwives [GNMs] by establishing additional nursing training institutions.

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