President Pranab Mukherejee today stressed the need for strengthening the nursing sector by establishing closer coordination between states and the Centre as he gave away Florence Nightingale Awards to 35 nurses for their outstanding services.
He said the country faces acute shortage of such caregivers due to "mass migration".
Conferring the Florence Nightingale Awards on 35 nurses from across the country on International Nurses Day, he also lauded the fact that the National Health Policy 2017 envisages a new momentum in innovation and nursing.
The awards are given to outstanding nursing personnel employed with the Centre, states or UTs.
"India's low nurse to population ratio reminds us that much more capacity needs to be built with closer coordination between states and the central government," he said at the event attended by Union Health Minister J P Nadda also.
"As Indian nurses take on greater local, national and international roles, we need to ensure appropriate professional development and human resource policies in our country and increased involvement of nurses in policy development," he said.
Throughout the 20th and 21st century, significant gains have been made in increasing life expectancy and reducing child and maternal mortality in both urban and rural areas, thanks to the improving quality of nursing services.
"In a developing economy such as ours, nurses and midwives are crucial in delivering cost-effective and, at the same time, good quality healthcare. Our nation is proud of their services," he said.
He expressed confidence that the Florence Nightingale Awardees-2017 will inspire the nursing fraternity to rededicate themselves to quality healthcare.
Nadda said the government is determined in making improvements in nursing and midwifery education in a comprehensive way that encompasses health promotion, disease prevention, treatment and rehabilitation and attainment of global mandates of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Universal Healthcare.
The Health Minister said in order to increase the availability of graduate nurses in the country, 17 Schools of Nursing have been provided with funds for upgradation into colleges of nursing.
"Roll out of nurse practitioner course for critical care has been launched to meet the challenges and demands of tertiary health care services in India.
"The course will be commencing from the academic session 2017-18. Around 75 colleges have applied for the conduction of the course for 2017-18. Around 15 colleges have been inspected and permitted inspection while inspection for remaining colleges is being carried out," he said.
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