Vice-President opens GKNM College of Nursing, calls for a stronger health workforce

COIMBATORE — Vice-President C. P. Radhakrishnan has inaugurated the GKNM Group College of Nursing in Coimbatore, using the occasion to call for a stronger, better-trained healthcare workforce as India works towards its goal of becoming a developed nation — Viksit Bharat — by 2047.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Vice-President placed nurses at the centre of the country’s health system. “Nurses are far more than caregivers,” he said, adding that alongside medicines their compassion and concern play an indispensable role in healing and in making patients feel safe and cared for.

A trust with deep roots in Coimbatore healthcare

The new college is an initiative of the G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Charitable Trust, which began as a 50-bed hospital in 1952 and has since grown into a 750-bed multi-specialty institution. Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar and R. Gopinath, president of the Kuppuswamy Naidu Charity Trust for Education and Medical Relief, were among those present, according to the Vice-President’s Secretariat.

Healthcare workforce and the road to Viksit Bharat

The Vice-President linked quality nursing education to the wider push for accessible healthcare. He pointed to flagship schemes such as Ayushman Bharat and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), which he said now provide nearly 44 crore people with health cover of up to ₹5 lakh, and the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandana Yojana for senior citizens. He also urged a sharper focus on preventive care — reducing anaemia and improving maternal and child nutrition — alongside awareness of organ and eye donation and the continued digitisation of health services.

Why it matters for nurses

For India’s nursing community, the message from the country’s second-highest constitutional office is a notable one: new training capacity and public recognition of the profession at a time when India is working to close a persistent nurse-to-population gap. A new College of Nursing adds seats and clinical-training infrastructure in Tamil Nadu, among the country’s largest producers of nursing graduates, and signals sustained demand for skilled, compassionate nurses across the health system.

As reported by DD News and the Vice-President’s Secretariat, the inauguration forms part of a broader government emphasis on building the human resources needed to deliver on India’s health and development goals.