Bengaluru: India is witnessing rising interest among students in various nursing courses. According to data available from the Indian Nursing Council (INC), between 2017-18 and 2020-21, occupancy of BSc (nursing) seats went up to 99 per cent from 70 per cent, while that for general nursing and midwifery (GNM) diploma courses went up to 91 per cent from 77 per cent.
This interest among students for taking up various nursing courses has not come down despite the nursing staffers getting affected adversely during the COVID pandemic period. Experts are of the opinion that multiple reasons are driving the demand for nursing courses across medical colleges.
These reasons are:
- Sound job opportunities: India has been facing a severe shortage of nurses, with top hospitals reporting an attrition rate of as high as 40 per cent. India has 1.7 nurses available per 1,000 people, which is far below the World Health Organization (WHO) norm of 4. With such a supply-demand mismatch, students passing out from nursing courses get a good number of job opportunities.
- Increasing aging population: Though India has the highest number of young population in both absolute and percentage terms, this demographic feature is going to change in the next 15 years. The country will have a huge mass of ageing population, who need care. Moreover, the rise of chronic diseases among Indians is giving rise to a higher demand for caregivers like nurses.
- Abroad placements: India is known as a key geography, which provides nursing staff to the whole world. Many young men and women join nursing colleges with the aspiration of working abroad. Indian nurses are very popular in Middle East countries, the US, and Europe.
Against this backdrop, India should improve the working conditions of nursing staffers by giving the caregivers good salaries and other benefits. Given the exodus of nurses from India to foreign shores, the country should come up with a comprehensive policy to retain the talent base in India for better healthcare services.
Leading Nursing Colleges in India:
- Armed Forces Medical College, Pune
- Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research, Puducherry
- All India Institute Of Medical Sciences, Delhi
- Vardhman Mahavir Medical College, Delhi
- Amity University, Gurugram
- King George’s Medical University, Lucknow
- Madras Medical College, Chennai
(The list is indicative and several other such institutes are providing quality education in nursing domain).
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