Bachelor course in nursing planned

[sajiv]

Bachelor course in nursing planned

Tirupur: The Health Department plans to introduce bachelor programme in nursing and establish a student's hostel, all at its nursing school functioning on the District Headquarters Hospital premises here, shortly.

Official sources told 'The Hindu' that the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) would soon send a proposal to the Indian Nursing Council under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare through the State Government, seeking its approval to start the four-year B.Sc (nursing) course.

Presently, the institution offers only a three-year diploma course in nursing with an intake of 50 students every year.

"The main advantage of the bachelor programme vis-a-vis the diploma course is that the students will be imparted training in specialised duties like handling psychiatric and paediatric patients besides given inputs on preventive medicine," Health Department sources said.

The proposed students' hostel will be established at an estimated outlay of Rs. 15 lakh as a public-private partnership venture to accommodate the entire 150 students of the nursing school. At present, students are housed at the vacant quarters meant for the staff of the District Headquarters Hospital as a makeshift arrangement.

DME sources said that plans were also afoot to establish a medical college in Tirupur. "We have tentatively identified about 23 acre of land on the District Headquarters Hospital premises itself for the project," a senior official said.