Lok Sabha Question No. 1655 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-02-11
Subject: Shortage of Nurses
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Hanuman Beniwal, Su Thirunavukkarasar, Raksha Nikhil Khadse, Sanjay Jaiswal, S. Muniswamy, Annasaheb Shankar Jolle, Umesh G. Jadhav, Sanganna Amarappa Karadi, Prathap Simha, L.S. Tejasvi Surya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1655 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11 TH  FEBRUARY, 2022

## SHORTAGE OF NURSES

1655 :  SHRI HANUMAN BENIWAL:

SHRI THIRUNAVUKKARASAR SU:

SHRIMATI RAKSHA NIKHIL KHADSE:

DR. SANJAY JAISWAL:

SHRI S. MUNISWAMY:

SHRI ANNASAHEB SHANKAR JOLLE:

DR. UMESH G. JADHAV:

SHRI SANGANNA AMARAPPA:

SHRI PRATHAP SIMHA:

SHRI L.S. TEJASVI SURYA:

Will the Minister of HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of a recent study that suggests that the country has poor nurse to population ratio of 1:670  as against the WHO norm of 1:300, nurse to doctor ratio as 1.7:1 and allied health workers to doctors is 1:1;
- (b) if so, the resultant adverse impact on health sector along with necessary corrective steps being taken in this regard;
- (c) the number of nursing graduates and the number of available nursing college seats in the country including Karnataka;
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to increase the number of nursing colleges and seats in the country;
- (e) whether a large number of nursing positions are lying vacant in the country and if so, the  details  thereof  and  the  time  since  when  the  posts  are  vacant,  State/UTwise particularly in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, BIMS, Belagavi;
- (f) the efforts made to fill the vacant posts during the last five years; and
- (g) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  revise  and  update  the  provisions  of  the  Indian Nursing Councils Acts, 1947 and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE INTHE MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE (Dr. BHARATI PRAVIN PAWAR)

- (a)  &  (b)      As  per  Indian  Nursing  Council  (INC)  and  National  medical  Commission  (NMC) records there are 33.41 lakh registered nurses and 13.01 lakh registered allopathic doctors in the country. As such, nurse to population and nurse to doctor ratio in the Country are 1:510 and 2.1:1 respectively. Further, there are around 13 lakh allied & healthcare professionals in the country which gives allied health workers to doctors ratio as 1:1.
- (c)  As  per  INC  records,  there  are  around  22  lakh  RN  &  RM  (B.Sc.  nursing  and  GNM).  The State-UT  wise  distribution  of  nursing  colleges  in  the  Country  along  with  their  admission capacity, including Karnataka is at Annexure-I.
- (d)  Under the Central Sector Scheme for Development of Nursing Services, funds to the tune of Rs.7.00 crores are provided to Schools of Nursing to upgrade to College of Nursing as per the scheme guidelines.  Measures are taken by Indian Nursing Council to increase the number of nursing colleges and seats as in Annexure-II.
- (e) & (f) The recruitment to the nursing positions falls under the domain of the respective State Governments. Further, there are 901 sanctioned nursing posts in NIMHANS, Bengaluru, out of which 804 are currently filled . As per information available with from the Karnataka state, in BIMS Belgavi, out of 334 sanctioned nursing posts 289 posts are filled.
- (g)  The draft National Nursing and Midwifery Commission (NNMC) Bill has been prepared and inter-ministerial consultations completed

*****

## Annexure -I

| State-wise distribution of Nursing institutions and   |
|-------------------------------------------------------|

|   19 | Madhya Pradesh   |   8 | 19 4   |   660 | 8510   |   202 |   9170 |   1 |   69 |   50 |   1212 |   70 |   1262 |   3 |   70 | 90      | 2125   | 73   | 2215    | 0   | 2   | 0    | 20 2   |   20 |
|------|------------------|-----|--------|-------|--------|-------|--------|-----|------|------|--------|------|--------|-----|------|---------|--------|------|---------|-----|-----|------|--------|------|
|   20 | Maharashtr a     |   6 | 98     |   300 | 4605   |   104 |   4905 |   3 |   41 |   55 |    720 |   44 |    775 |   2 |   49 | 70 1405 |        | 51   | 1475 0  | 4   | 0   | 55   | 4      |   55 |
|   21 | Manipur          |   2 | 6      |    90 | 210    |     8 |    300 |   2 |    0 |   18 |      0 |    2 |     18 |   0 |    3 | 0 60    | 3      |      | 60      | 0   | 0 0 | 0    | 0      |    0 |
|   22 | Meghalaya        |   1 | 1      |    50 | 40     |     2 |     90 |   1 |    0 |   10 |      0 |    1 |     10 |   0 |    1 | 0 30    | 1      | 30   |         | 0 0 | 0   | 0    | 0      |    0 |
|   23 | Mizoram          |   2 | 1      |    65 | 30     |     3 |     95 |   0 |    0 |    0 |      0 |    0 |      0 |   0 |    0 | 0 0     | 0      |      | 0       | 0   | 0 0 | 0    | 0      |    0 |
|   24 | Nagaland         |   0 | 1      |     0 | 40     |     1 |     40 |   0 |    0 |    0 |      0 |    0 |      0 |   0 |    1 | 0 20    |        | 1    | 20      | 0   | 0 0 | 0    | 0      |    0 |
|   25 | Orissa           |   4 | 36     |   265 | 1510   |    40 |   1775 |   3 |   12 |   62 |    300 |   15 |    362 |   1 |   10 | 40 360  |        | 11   | 400     | 0   | 0   | 0    | 0      |    0 |
|   26 | Pondicherr y     |   2 | 12     |   175 | 810    |    14 |    985 |   2 |    7 |   47 |    146 |    9 |    193 |   1 |    6 | 25 195  |        | 7    | 0 220 0 | 1   | 0   | 10   | 1      |   10 |
|   27 | Punjab           |   6 | 10     |   320 | 5370   |   112 |   5690 |   2 |   33 |   50 |    657 |   35 |    707 |   4 |   88 | 125     | 2930   | 92   | 3055 1  | 2   | 5   | 20 3 |        |   25 |
|   28 | Rajasthan        |  11 | 16     |   790 | 7345   |   172 |   8135 |   8 |   21 |  190 |    335 |   29 |    525 |   2 |   47 | 45 1280 |        | 49   | 1325 1  | 1   | 25  | 20   | 2      |   45 |
|   29 | Sikkim           |   0 | 1 3    |     0 | 170    |     3 |    170 |   0 |    1 |    0 |     25 |    1 |     25 |   0 |    0 | 0       | 0      | 0    | 0 0     | 0   | 0   | 0    | 0      |    0 |
|   30 | Tamilnadu        |   5 | 19 0   |   250 | 1170 0 |   195 |  11950 |   2 |   80 |   65 |   1724 |   82 |   1789 |   2 |   61 | 90 2115 | 63     |      | 2205    | 0 9 | 0   | 115  | 9      |  115 |
|   31 | Telangana        |   6 | 82     |   380 | 4700   |    88 |   5080 |   1 |   23 |   30 |    463 |   24 |    493 |   1 |   17 | 10 520  | 18     |      | 530 0   | 4   | 0   | 80   | 4      |   80 |
|   32 | Tripura          |   0 | 3      |     0 | 150    |     3 |    150 |   0 |    3 |    0 |     45 |    3 |     45 |   0 |    1 | 0 20    | 1      |      | 20      | 0 0 | 0   | 0    | 0      |    0 |
|   33 | Uttar Pradesh    |   9 | 12     |   570 | 5450   |   136 |   6020 |   1 |   28 |   50 |    616 |   29 |    666 |   2 |   44 | 80      | 1280   | 46   | 1360 0  | 3   | 0   | 40   | 3      |   40 |
|   34 | Uttarakhan d     |   7 | 7 19   |   360 | 895    |    26 |   1255 |   2 |    6 |   43 |    106 |    8 |    149 |   1 |    6 | 30 180  |        | 7    | 210 0   | 2   | 0   | 25 2 |        |   25 |
|   35 | West Bengal      |  13 | 30     |   715 | 1995   |    43 |   2710 |   9 |    8 |  205 |    135 |   17 |    340 |   7 |    9 | 390 375 |        | 16   | 765     | 0 1 | 0   | 10   | 1      |   10 |

India  produces  over  2.87  lakh  nursing  personnel  annually.    However,  Some  of  the proactive measures taken to improve situation for better healthcare services in the country are:

- (i) In order to increase the number of nursing seats:-
- (a) The requirement of land to construct building for School/College of Nursing and Hostel has been relaxed.
- (b) The requirement of a 100 bedded parent hospital has been relaxed for hilly and tribal areas.
- (c) The student teacher ratio for M.Sc.(N) programme has been relaxed from 1:5 to 1:10
- (d) Student patient ratio for Nursing Institutions has been relaxed from 1:5 to 1:3
- (e) Admission for Nursing has been allowed for married candidates.
- (f) Maximum number of 100 seats for Nursing College will be given to those having parent hospitals with 300 beds without insisting Medical College.
- (g) Distance from school to hospital has been relaxed from 15 km to 30 Km. However, for hilly and tribal areas the maximum distance is 50 Km.
- (h) Eligibility Criteria to admission i.e. (Marks) for Diploma and Degree has been relaxed by 5%.
- (i) Relaxation for opening M.Sc. (N) programme. Super speciality Hospital can start M.Sc. (N) without having under graduate programme.
- (ii) The Nurse Practitioner in Critical Care Nursing (NPCC) has been developed which prepares registered B.Sc. Nurses for advance practice roles as clinical experts, managers, educators and consultants leading to M.Sc. degree in Nursing.