Revise nursing council clause, say health professionals with disabilities

‘Restricting 5% reservation in B.Sc. Nursing to only those with up to 40-50% lower limb disability is discriminatory, unfair’

The Indian Nursing Council’s (INC) recent notification restricting the 5% reservation for persons with disabilities (PwD) in B.Sc. Nursing courses only to those with lower limb disability, and that too for the 40-50% disabled, has come under criticism from a pan-India group of health professionals with disabilities. The group has now written to the Union Health Ministry and the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities seeking the allegedly discriminatory clause be repealed, and that nurses with disabilities and disability rights activists be involved in the framing of new guidelines. Speaking on the issues, nursing officer Monika Dhankar said that nurses with disabilities have a unique way of connecting with their patients because of their experiences in actually being patients. “Nursing as a profession embraces the need to avoid discrimination, yet disability as an equal opportunity issue is relatively neglected in nursing. Nursing has a moral, professional and, in some countries, a legal responsibility to promote disability equality in the provision of nursing services,” she said. Ms. Dhankar added that nurses have an obligation to promote disability equality in relation to the provision of health care.