Nurse shortage ails U.P. health system

While the World Health Organization norm is three nurses per 1,000 population, in Uttar Pradesh, it is just 0.6.

With just around 1.38 lakh nurses and midwives for its population of more than 23 crore, the health system in Uttar Pradesh is struggling to take care of the ailing. While the World Health Organization norm is three nurses per 1,000 population, in Uttar Pradesh, it is just 0.6.

Though the State was allocated ₹270 crore from the Union Budget to build 27 new nursing colleges, there are two major challenges: the paucity of faculty for training, and the quality of students who pass out of such institutions.

There are currently 23 government-run nursing colleges, 17 of which began admitting students only in 2021. Bearing in mind that a B.Sc. nursing degree is a four-year course, the six nursing colleges — two in Lucknow and one each in Jhansi, Kanpur, Meerut, and Etawah — produce 420 graduates annually. This will be enhanced to 620 from 2025. But not all who graduate will look at jobs in the health sector.

Also read | Up to 14.4% female health worker and auxiliary nursing midwife posts lying vacant in primary health centres and sub-centres

The State needs to ensure that quality nursing students get admission in both private and public colleges. “Now, 420 graduates are just 5% of the lot. Ninety five per cent [of the nearly 7,860 seats in B.Sc. Nursing] are passing out of the private sector, which is largely unregulated,” U.P.’s Principal Secretary (Medical Education) Alok Kumar told The Hindu, adding that there are 329 nursing colleges in total.

To begin with, the State wants to gradually create 72,000 nursing positions in the government sector. U.P. has also launched ‘Mission Niramaya’ in 2022 to uplift the quality of its nursing workforce.

Mr. Kumar, a 1993-batch IAS officer who previously served in the Department of Health, and as an Adviser (Health) at the Niti Aayog, was considered a good fit by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to handle this nursing upgrade in terms of quality and quantity.