The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) has directed its concentration toward the tidy up of the Indian Nursing Council (INC) with its proposition with another body of the National Nursing and Midwifery Commission. This came as the effect of substitution of the Medical Council of India (MCI) with the National Medical Commission (NMC). Currently, National Nursing and Midwifery Commission BiIl, 2020 draft has been released for public comments.
You can read it at: NNMC Draft Bill for Comments.
The Central Government has also decided to constitute an autonomous board, the Nursing and Midwifery Assessment and Rating Board. This board will work under the supervision of the Commission. The powers and functions of the board have been laid down in Section 20 of the Act.
The board will perform the following functions, as given under the Act,:
- As the Nursing and Midwifery UG and PG Education Boards will lay down the proper standards for the nursing and midwifery institutions, the task of the Nursing and Midwifery Assessment and Rating Board would be to determine the procedure for assessment and rating of these institutions. The assessment is mandatory to keep a check on institutions whether they are meeting the guidelines and standards issued by the Education Boards.
- The permission of the Nursing and Midwifery Assessment and Rating Board will be required for the following purposes:
i) to start any course in post-graduation
ii) to establish new nursing and midwifery institution
iii) to start any course in nurse practitioner
iv) to start any course in clinical nurse
v) to increase the number of seats
- The board will carry out inspection drives for the assessment and rating of new nursing and midwifery institutions.
It is to be noted that the board will have powers to delegate its inspection of nursing and midwifery institutions to any other inspection agency or any other persons on behalf of the board.
The institutions are bound to give access to these inspection agencies or any other person authorized by the Nursing and Midwifery Assessment and Rating Board.
The board can conduct evaluation and assessment of institutions without any prior notice. It will assess the standards and benchmarks and evaluate performance of these institutions at any time.
- It has to keep its website updated. It has to release the assessment and ratings of nursing and midwifery institutions to the public domain at regular intervals.
- The board can take serious actions against these institutions if they fail to follow the guidelines and maintain the standards as prescribed by the Nursing and Midwifery UG and PG Board. It can following measures against the institutes:
i) issue warnings
ii) impose monetary penalties
iii) reduce seats or stop admissions
iv) recommend to the Commission to withdraw the institute’s recognition
The board also has the following rights:
- Make recommendations to the Commission
- Seek directions from the Commission
- Discharge its functions
