Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has announced that the Indian Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of 157 nursing colleges at a cost of INR 1,570 crore. The aim of this initiative is to increase the number of nursing professionals and provide quality, affordable and equitable nursing education in the country. Each college will offer approximately 100 B.Sc (Nursing) seats annually and will be co-located with existing medical colleges to ensure optimal use of infrastructure, skill labs, clinical facilities and faculty. The project is expected to be completed within two years and will add around 15,700 new nursing graduate seats each year.
Uttar Pradesh will have 27 of the 157 nursing colleges, followed by Rajasthan with 23, and Madhya Pradesh with 14. Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will each have 11 nursing colleges, Bihar will have 8, Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha will have 7 each, and Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Jharkhand will have 5 each. Karnataka and Uttarakhand will have 4 each, while Punjab and Himachal Pradesh will have 3 each, and Haryana will have 1.
The establishment of these nursing colleges will address the geographical and rural-urban imbalances in the healthcare sector and improve healthcare services in underserved areas. This will help attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the national mandate for Universal Health Care (UHC). The move will also facilitate better employment opportunities and global recognition for Indian nurses.
An Empowered Committee headed by the Union Health Secretary and Principal Secretary, Health/Medical Education in states will monitor the progress of the work. The co-location of nursing colleges with existing medical colleges will result in better clinical exposure to nursing students and better care and service provision for patients. Regulatory reforms in nursing education to meet emerging requirements in the sector are also under consideration.
A total of 157 new nursing colleges will be established, with Uttar Pradesh having colleges in districts such as Basti, Faizabad, Firozabad, Shahjahanpur, Bahraich, Etah, Hardoi, Pratapgarh, Fatehpur, Siddharthnagar (Domariyaganj), Deoria, Ghazipur, Mirzapur, Bijnaur, Kishunagar, Sultanpur, Gonda, Lalitpur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Chandauli, Bulandshahr, Sonbhadra, Pilibhit, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kaushambi, and Amethi. In Rajasthan, new nursing colleges will be established in districts such as Barmer, Bharatpur, Bhilwara, Churr, Dungarpur, Pali, Sikar, Dholpur, Alwar, Baran, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Jaisalmer, Karauli, Nagaur, Sri Ganganagar, Sirohi, Bundi, Sawaimadhopur, Tonk, Hanumangarh, Jhunjhunu, and Dausa. In Madhya Pradesh, the new nursing colleges will be set up in districts such as Datia, Khandwa, Ratlam, Shahdol, Vidisha, Chhindwara, Shivpuri, Satna, Rajgarh, Mandla, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Sheopur, and Singrauli.
