According to a press release, the Indian government has approved 157 new nursing colleges that will be co-located with existing medical colleges to strengthen the country's nursing workforce.
This is being done to ensure that nursing education in India is of high quality, affordable, and equitable, particularly in underserved districts and states/union territories.
Nursing professionals are highly skilled professionals who drive the healthcare delivery system; however, their numerical strength falls short of global norms and needs to be adequately increased. Every year, approximately 15,700 nursing graduates will be added to the existing workforce as a result of this.
The initiative aims to address geographical and rural-urban disparities in healthcare, which have resulted in a skewed availability of nursing professionals and impacted healthcare services in underserved areas.
The co-location of these nursing colleges with existing medical colleges will maximize the use of existing infrastructure, skill labs, clinical facilities, and faculty. This initiative is expected to improve clinical exposure for nursing students as well as patient care and service provision in medical colleges.
The government intends to complete the project within the next two years and has established detailed timelines for each stage of planning and execution.
