Central government to overhaul the Nursing education system in the country

Updated on: Friday, February 08, 2013

To improve the outcomes in maternal and child health, the Central government has decided to overhaul the nursing education system in the country. Following this, the new nursing students will have to undergo a competency test in district hospitals before getting their degrees in the nursing.

"The competency test would basically assess their practical skills," said Anuradha Gupta, managing director, National Rural Health Mission, India. Gupta spoke to TOI after the inaugural session of the National Child Survival and Development Summit.

Union health and family welfare minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who inaugurated the summit, said the NRHM's programme implementation plan for 2013-14 would be dedicated to nurses, child survival and quality of life.

Gupta added that the philosophy behind the plan was that despite impressive progress, improving quality of services still remains a key challenge for the health sector. Though shortage of skilled manpower, particularly doctors, including specialists, is a key bottleneck, the role of nurses and midwives cannot be undermined.

"They (nurses and midwives) are the ones handling the real situation in our villages and census towns. Therefore, they must be trained if the real change is to be brought about," she stated. Officials from the Union health ministry said this was one of the many steps being taken to strengthen the foundation of nursing and midwifery education in 10 high focus states viz. Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir. Other states may also choose to join.

Besides the new set of competency test for new nurses, the ministry is planning to launch several in-service training programmes for nurses in job. "For this, we would be opening national nodal centres and state nodal centres in pre-determined colleges of nursing. The students would be imparted training on human anatomical mannequins so that they are prepared to handle a difficult situation," NRHM MD said.

Expert on newborn health and child survival, Unicef headquarters, Dr Mickey Chopra cited the example of Brazil. "They were once at a place where India stands now. Today, they have an infant mortality rate of less than 20. One of the many reasons behind their success is the focus on skilled birth attendant," he said.

Earlier, giving an outline of the issue of child survival, Anuradha said if India has to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on child health, it will have to bring down the rate of infant mortality by 7.5% per annum. She also unveiled specific targets for all states. Under this, UP has to bring down its infant mortality rate from 68 in 2012 to 47 in 2017.

Central government to overhaul the Nursing education system in the country

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