Date:23/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/23/stories/2008012356041400.htm

National

More funds allocated for nurses’ training

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The government has earmarked Rs. 2,900 crore for the Eleventh Five Year Plan period to train more nurses under the Development of Nursing Services scheme to overcome the shortage.

Speaking at the centenary celebration of the Trained Nurses Association of India here on Tuesday, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the nursing sector was critical in the health care delivery system. Therefore, several new schemes had been proposed in the 11th Plan, including the establishment of 24 centres of excellences across the country.

As many as 145 training schools for auxiliary nursing midwives would be opened and 17 State Nursing Councils strengthened. Seventeen nursing cells were proposed to be set up in the Directorate of Health Services at the State levels.

Six Colleges of Nursing would be opened in Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. This would be apart from four Regional Institutes of Nursing planned in Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi.