Addressing a function to mark International Nurses Day at Rashtrapati Bhawan's Durbar Hall, he said nursing had evolved into a modern medical profession with wealth of skills and professional knowledge and nurses formed a large and critical part of the health workforce, which is the backbone of the healthcare system.
"As keen facilitators of the healthcare, they are the pivot in the hospital-doctor-patient paradigm," he said after presenting the Florence Nightingale Award to 35 nursing professionals for their services with devotion, sincerity, dedication and compassion.
"I am confident, in times to come, nursing profession will attain greater recognition and they will be empowered with more responsibilities, competencies and better facilities for improving the health services," Mukherjee said.
He said government has set the goal of 'health for all' in the 12th Plan and with expansion of medical infrastructure there will be an increased demand for nursing staff. This, he said, can be addressed by augmenting capacities in existing institutions and by opening many more nursing schools.
He said 20,000 more nursing seats will be created this year and claimed a four-fold increase in the number of nursing institutes in the country in the last 7 years.