India will need 2.4m nurses by '12: WHO

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-will-need-2-4m-nurses-by-12-WHO/articleshow/5918320.cms
NEW DELHI: According to the World Health Organisation, India will need 2.4 million nurses by 2012 to achieve the government's aim of a nurse-patient ratio of one nurse per 500 population. 

On the eve of International Nursing Day on Tuesday, WHO said, "In most countries, there is a shortage of nurses but nowhere is it so acute as in the developing world. The developed world fills its vacancies by enticing nurses from other countries, while developing countries are unable to compete with better pay and better professional development." 

In India, nurse shortages occur at every level of the healthcare system. "The states with the worst healthcare human resource shortages are also the ones with the worst health indicators and highest infant and child mortality," Nidhi Chaudhary from the WHO's New Delhi office said.

Paucity of training is one of the main reasons for the global nurse shortage. According to Dr Jean Yan from the Health Professions Networks, the faculty-student ratio in developing countries is reported to be as high as 1:45 compared with a 1:12 ratio in developed countries. 

Experts say in India, some of the issues related to nurse retention still remain to be tackled -- job insecurity for the contractual staff, low pay and lack of a conducive work environment. 

Nursing Council director T Dileep Kumar recently shot off a letter to all states directing them to allow married women to take admission in nursing colleges. 

India has 2,000 nursing diploma schools, 1,200 nursing degree schools and 281 MSc nursing colleges. Annually, the country produces around 60,000 nurses. 

India has a capacity to train 79,850 diploma nurses, 41,650 graduate nurses and 1,940 postgraduate nurses per year. However, over 20% of this number head to foreign shores every year. The ministry has therefore increased the retirement age of the faculty in nursing colleges to 70 years. The eligibility criteria to admission for diploma and degree has been relaxed by 5%. 

"Recently, the Cabinet approved the setting up of 260 government nursing schools at the district level to meet the shortage of nursing staff," an official said.