Governor undecided on 300 nursing schools

The Karnataka government seems to be in another round of 'institution sanctioning frenzy'. The growing demand for nurses abroad seems to have prompted the government to sanction some 300 nursing schools in the state the Karnataka government has sanctioned some 300 nursing schools in the state. Eighteen nursing schools have been sanctioned in Mysore alone.

But realising the numbers sanctioned, the governor, according to former MLA Vedantha Hemmige, has stayed the order sanctioning the schools. Commending the governor?s move, Hemmige said it is true there has been a rising demand for trained nurses abroad. But sanctioning 300 nursing schools was beyond requirement.

Taking the example of Mysore district, he said only six institutions had hospitals capable of running nursing schools, while the rest had no such facilities. Many of the sanctioned institutions are virtually unknown. Similar is the case elsewhere.

Accusing the government of sanctioning the schools for obvious reasons, the Janata Dal (S) MLA said, supporting the Ahinda group of former deputy chief minister Siddaramaiah, said it is impossible to find trained teachers in medical and nursing subjects who can teach nursing candidates without any facilities and infrastructure.

Each student will have to pay Rs 1 lakh for the three-year course and it is obvious that so many institutions have stepped in to open schools with a nothing but a commercial objective, instead of educational purposes.

The former MLA urged the governor to call for an inquiry into the sanction of these nursing schools.