Telangana keeps nursing schools on back burner
Six nursing schools, colleges don't have sanctioned teaching positions.
Hyderabad: Three schools and three colleges that offer graduation courses and diplomas in nursing don’t have sanctioned teaching positions. The state has five nursing colleges that offer four-year graduation courses and six schools that offer three-year diploma in nursing.
The Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Adilabad and nursing schools at Bodhan in Nizamabad and Jagtial in Karimnagar as also the nursing colleges at Secunderabad, RIMS-Adilabad and at Jagtial have no sanctioned teaching positions. While teaching positions were sanctioned at the nursing school located in Warangal four years ago, no teachers have been appointed.
Due to lack of permanent faculty, nurses in government hospitals are sent on deputation to teach students. As a result the number of nurses in government hospitals has decreased. It increases work pressure on the nursing staff and impacts quality of healthcare being provided to patients.
According to the Indian Nursing Council (INC), the teacher-student ratio in nursing colleges should be 1:10. As too many staff nurses cannot be deputed from hospitals to teaching at colleges, the INC prescribed ratio is not maintained.
The Warangal nursing college has around 320 students and as per INC should have at least 32 teachers. There are four nurses on deputation teaching the students. At the nursing college in Secunderabad with about 150 students, there are five teachers.
The delay in release of stipend is another issue worrying students. Students of Secunderabad and Jagtial nursing colleges have not received stipend for three years. For students in other nursing schools and colleges, the stipend is released once in a few months.
A third year diploma student said, “Our stipend is Rs 1,950 per month of which Rs 1,300 goes for food. This time we got stipend after six months. The stipend is meagre while our work is like that of a nurse employed on regular basis.”
Gandhi Hospital houses both studying and living
Students at the government nursing school located in Gandhi Hospital, stay on eighth floor of the hospital which houses their college too.
The girls’ hostel is completely isolated on the eighth floor. But male students share their rooms with the surgical, septic, dialysis and skin problems ward on the seventh floor of the hospital.
The nursing school it is located right opposite the swine flu ward on the eighth floor. The nursing school is close to 100 years old. It was started as part of the King Edward Memorial Hospital which was established in 1913. At that time, the nursing school had a separate block.
One of the students staying at the hostel in Gandhi Hospital said, “Who would like to stay in a hospital? Our parents were shocked and worried about our health when they came to know about our stay in hospital.”