Lok Sabha Question No. 329 (STARRED), answered on 2023-08-11
Subject: Regional Disparity in Nursing Colleges
Ministry: HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE
Asked by: Jagannath Sarkar, Manne Srinivas Reddy

## GOVERNMENTOFINDIA

## MINISTRYOF HEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE DEPARTMENTOFHEALTH ANDFAMILYWELFARE

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 329 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11 th AUGUST, 2023

## REGIONALDISPARITY IN NURSING COLLEGES

## 329: SHRI JAGANNATH SARKAR: SHRI MANNE SRINIVAS REDDY

Will the Minister of HEALTHANDFAMILYWELFARE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is a shortage of nursing hospitals in 40 per cent of the districts in India with 42 per cent of nursing institutions clustered across five southern States, while 17 per cent are situated in three western districts and if so, the details of nursing colleges functioning, State/UT-wise; (b) the details of the steps taken by the Government to overcome the shortage and regional disparity in the establishment of nursing hospitals/colleges in the country; (c) whether there has been a 36 per cent growth in the number of institutions offering undergraduate nursing education since 2014-15 resulting in 40 per cent growth in nursing seats thus leading to a regional skew in the statistics and if so, the details thereof along with steps taken in this regard; (d) whether the Government also proposes to set up 157 new nursing colleges in medical colleges by April, 2025 and if so, the details thereof; and (e) whether the Government is aware of the fact that country s nurse-to-population
- ' ratio is 2.06:1000 against the global benchmark of 3:1000 and if so, the steps taken by the Government to improve the ratio of nurse-to-population in the country?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILYWELFARE (DR. MANSUKH MANDAVIYA)

- (a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House

## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 329 FOR 11 TH AUGUST 2023

(a) to (e) There are 5203 nursing institutes in the country including 715 government institutes. State wise details of nursing colleges is Annexed . The number of nursing institutes providing undergraduate course increased from 1641 in 2014 to 2229 in 2023 (upto March, 23) reporting an increase of 36% and similarly graduate seats also increased from 83192 to 116595 reporting an increase of 40% during the same period. Further, there are 35.14 Lakh registered nursing personnel in the country giving a nurse to population ratio of 2.06 nurses per 1000 population. The distribution of nursing colleges/institutes are attributed to various geographical and socio-economic factors influencing the availability and accessibility of nursing education in different regions of the country. Hence, to address skewness in the distribution of the nursing colleges, to increase number of nursing personnel, and to improve quality of nursing education being imparted, various steps have been taken by the Government as follows:

(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.

(j) Establishment of 157 nursing colleges has been announced in the budget speech 2023-24 in medical colleges which have been approved under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for 'Establishment of new Medical College attached with existing district/referral hospital'. It will add roughly 15000 nursing seats in the government sector.

(k) Under the central sector scheme 'Development of Nursing Services' Grant-in Aid is given to States/UTs to upgrade schools of nursing into colleges of nursing.

Annexure State-wise distribution of Nursing Institutions as on 31st March, 2023

|   S. No. | State Name             |   Total Nursing Institutes |
|----------|------------------------|----------------------------|
|        1 | Andaman &Nicobar       |                          1 |
|        2 | Andhra Pradesh         |                        278 |
|        3 | Arunachal Pradesh      |                         13 |
|        4 | Assam                  |                         91 |
|        5 | Bihar                  |                        116 |
|        6 | Chandigarh             |                          4 |
|        7 | Chhattisgarh           |                        135 |
|        8 | Dadra &Nagar Haveli    |                          1 |
|        9 | Daman &Diu             |                          1 |
|       10 | Delhi                  |                         36 |
|       11 | Goa                    |                          4 |
|       12 | Gujarat                |                        220 |
|       13 | Haryana                |                        112 |
|       14 | Himachal Pradesh       |                         57 |
|       15 | Jammu &Kashmir         |                         32 |
|       16 | Jharkhand              |                        109 |
|       17 | Karnataka              |                        668 |
|       18 | Kerala                 |                        268 |
|       19 | Madhya Pradesh         |                        431 |
|       20 | Maharashtra            |                        713 |
|       21 | Manipur                |                         25 |
|       22 | Meghalaya              |                         12 |
|       23 | Mizoram                |                         12 |
|       24 | Nagaland               |                          7 |
|       25 | Orissa                 |                        188 |
|       26 | Pondicherry/Puducherry |                         16 |
|       27 | Punjab                 |                        250 |
|       28 | Rajasthan              |                        270 |
|       29 | Sikkim                 |                          5 |
|       30 | TamilNadu              |                        345 |
|       31 | Telangana              |                        157 |
|       32 | Tripura                |                         15 |
|       33 | Uttar Pradesh          |                        365 |
|       34 | Uttarakhand            |                         46 |
|       35 | West Bengal            |                        200 |