KARACHI, May 21: The International Nurses Day was celebrated at the College of Nursing, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre on Saturday. The day was celebrated with the theme ‘Patients safety: A common concern for healthcare professionals’. Around 400 nurses and nurse aids besides teachers and instructors participated in the celebrations.
The JPMC director, Dr Mashhoor Alam, appreciated the hard work of nurses and lauded their role in the healthcare delivery system. He assured the nurses of every help in meeting their requirements.
“This profession has now developed in this modern edge and the role of nurses is going to be more important,” he said, assuring the College of Nursing of cooperation in starting an MSC programme for nurses at the college.
He said there was a dire need to evolve a countrywide strategy for the safety of nurses.
“With non-communicable and communicable diseases assuming alarming proportions it is extremely necessary to ensure proper protection of nurses - the first line of health care providers working for the cause of ailing humanity,” he maintained.
He ensured that the JPMC administration was taking due stock of the need and that Federal Health Ministry had already launched a programme for compulsory vaccination of health care providers against Hepatitis B.
Equal attention was also being paid to improved training programmes for nurses that would ultimately benefit both nurses and patients, he said.
Speaking of the significance of proper training of nurses, he said the JPMC Nursing School as well as the JPMC nursing college were already functioning in collaboration with the Aga Khan School of Nursing and the Yasra University - Hyderabad.
As there was a shortage of trainers and instructors, the JPMC nursing college had been inviting teachers from the AKU and other reputable institutions, the director informed.
In addition, the situation was also being addressed by linking the college through internet with provision for tele-conferencing with different private and government health care institutions.
According to the JPMC Director, the nursing college’s library would also be connected through multimedia and the internet to enable nurses and students to gain easy access to different journals related to their profession.
Mehwish Nadir, principal of the JPMC College of Nursing said the nurses’ profession was very noble. “A nurse has to both educate and keep aware patients about their recovery, safety and in taking medicine. Nurses spend more time with a patient than a doctor and better understand the patient’s problems,” she added.
“The nurses’ day is always celebrated at the college. It is the first nursing college of Pakistan. Our college has already started a BSC programme in nursing and an MSC programme will also start soon,” she maintained.
Other speakers including students said there was a negative image of nurses in society that needed to be improved. “Nurses are low paid and work in odd hours, while there is no government support for nurses for higher education. These issues should be addressed,” they pointed out.
They also stressed the establishment of nurse health community centres at gross-roots level to benefit poor people.
They advised nurses to improve their behaviour with patients, and advised them to be patient, kind and considerate towards patients.
A walk, led by college Principal Mehwish Nadir, started from the college and culminated at the same point after passing through the School of Nursing.
Students of the school and college besides nurses associated with the major tertiary care institutions participated in the walk to highlight the significance of the day.
A seminar was later organized at the college. Some 15 students spoke on issues related to nursing professions. Nurses from Yasra University – Hyderabad also participated in the celebrations.—PPI/APP
