AMARAVATI, April 16: In a significant policy decision aimed at correcting the imbalance between the supply of nursing graduates and actual demand in the State, Health Minister Sri Satyakumar Yadav on Thursday announced that henceforth only applications received in response to official government notifications would be considered for the establishment of new nursing educational institutions in Andhra Pradesh. Unsolicited or suo motu proposals will no longer be entertained, the Minister made clear.

The announcement was made following an extensive review meeting on nursing education held at the AP Secretariat in Velagapudi, which lasted nearly two hours. The Minister clarified that an exemption to this policy would be extended to proposals pertaining to tribal areas.

Background to the Decision

Officials apprised the Minister at the review that the State currently has 691 nursing educational institutions, which collectively produce approximately 32,000 nursing graduates every year. Despite this, around 6,000 nursing seats have been going unfilled annually for the past several years, pointing to a significant oversupply. Between 2014 and the present, as many as 243 nursing colleges and schools have been sanctioned, all of them on the basis of suo motu proposals submitted by various institutions and approved by successive governments.

In a departure from this practice, the present alliance government last year invited applications from interested organisations for the establishment of nursing institutions in various parts of the State based on assessed need. In response, approximately 345 applications were received and are currently under consideration by a High Power Committee. It was against this backdrop that the Minister announced the new policy decision.

Minister Satyakumar Yadav discussed the finer points of the decision to disallow suo motu proposals with High Power Committee Chairman and retired High Court Judge Sri Upnaka Durga Prasada Rao.

Nurses Must Be Trained to Meet Evolving Demands

The review meeting also deliberated on employment opportunities in the health sector in the context of the State government's target of generating 20 lakh jobs by 2029. The Minister noted that the health sector alone holds the potential for over one lakh employment opportunities, and that appropriate reforms in nursing training could enable large-scale job creation.

Satyakumar Yadav stressed the need to incorporate emerging areas of healthcare into nursing training curricula, particularly geriatric care, child care services, and mental health services, given the rapidly growing demand in these specialisations. State Nursing Council Registrar Smt. Sushila informed the meeting that steps would be taken to launch a Post Graduate Residency Programme in these specialisations in government nursing institutions shortly.

Committee to Review Nursing College Fees

The question of revision of annual tuition fees in nursing institutions also figured prominently in the discussions. Representatives of nursing institutions pointed out that fees were last revised nearly a decade ago in 2017, and that rising inflation since then had made the running of colleges increasingly difficult, necessitating an upward revision. The Minister announced the constitution of a committee under High Power Committee Chairman and retired High Court Judge Sri Durga Prasada Rao to examine the matter scientifically and submit a report, on the basis of which the fee revision would be considered.

The meeting was attended by Health Department Principal Secretary Sri Saurabh Gaur, Director of Medical Education Dr. Raghunandan, State Nursing Council Registrar Smt. Sushila, other senior officials, and representatives of the Nursing Colleges Management Association.

VIJAYAWADA, April 16: State Minister for Medical and Health Sri Satyakumar Yadav on Thursday called upon government medical colleges to work towards securing rankings under the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), asserting that such recognition would lend them a distinct identity and enhance their standing in the academic world.

The Minister was speaking on the occasion of the inauguration of the Disease Monitoring and Decision Making Centre (DMDMC) at the NTR University of Health Sciences here, a facility being set up at a cost of Rs. 6 crore. He urged faculty and administrators to strive for the publication of research papers by State medical professionals in internationally reputed journals such as The Lancet.

Expressing concern over the lack of visible progress on the ground, the Minister noted that despite administrative approval orders having been issued for the development of teaching hospitals at an outlay of nearly Rs. 4,000 crore, tangible action remained elusive. He called upon hospital superintendents and college principals to act in a coordinated manner and take necessary steps without further delay. He also urged them to systematically harness the support being offered by alumni who are coming forward to contribute to the development of their alma mater. He stressed the need for continuous efforts to implement the 30-point agenda announced by the Medical and Health Department.

Suicides in Medical Colleges Must Be Prevented

State Medical and Health Department Principal Secretary Saurabh Gaur, addressing the gathering, urged principals of medical colleges to ensure that no student deaths by suicide occur on their campuses. Noting that there are approximately 7,000 faculty members across government and private medical colleges combined, he called upon each of them to closely observe and counsel at least 10 to 20 students, monitoring their behaviour and mental well-being. He informed that renowned psychiatrist Dr. Aparna is conducting special training programmes specifically targeting first-year MBBS students who are under stress.

The DMDMC will function under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) within the purview of the Director of Public Health. The advanced technology at the centre will enable early detection of disease outbreaks at the district, mandal, and village levels, facilitating timely preventive action. The centre is also to be linked with the Advanced Warning Advisory for Resilient Ecosystem (AWARE) system, officials said.

The NTR Health University has already disbursed Rs. 10 lakh each to government medical colleges in Kurnool, Tirupati, and Visakhapatnam for the development of sports grounds to encourage student participation in athletics.

The university was also asked to initiate post-doctoral fellowship courses in the field of fertility. University Vice-Chancellor Dr. Chandrashekhar, Registrar Sai Sudhir, and Dr. Lakshmi Suryaprabha announced that new courses including BSc in Family Emergency Medicine and Forensic Nursing are to be introduced in medical colleges. Plans are also afoot to launch Biophysics courses in collaboration with IIT Chennai and IIT New Delhi. They requested that regulatory hurdles, including FCRA-related restrictions on receiving funds from abroad, be eased to facilitate construction and development work at teaching hospitals in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, and other centres.

Cheques Presented to Andhra and Kakinada Medical Colleges

Minister Satyakumar presented cheques of Rs. 10 lakh each to the principals of Andhra Medical College and Kakinada Medical College, Dr. Sandhyarani and Dr. Vishnuvardhan respectively, for undertaking sports infrastructure development on their campuses.

The Minister also inaugurated a 100 KW rooftop solar panel installation atop the NTR Health University building, set up under the Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of Canara Bank.