|
|
|
| March 17, 2006 | Friday | Safar 16, 1427 |
NWFP govt orders closure of nursing college
PESHAWAR, March 16: The NWFP Health Department has ordered closure of the Post-graduate College of Nursing to put pressure on nurses to vacate their hostel for students of the Khyber Girls Medical College, sources said.
The principal of the college, Nazir Abdur Rehman, said: “Yes, we have received orders from the secretary health regarding closure of the Postgraduate College of Nursing on March 13.”
He said that the health department had been asking the administration of the college to vacate the 65-room hostel to accommodate female students of the newly-launched Khyber Girls Medical College.
The vice-president of the Pakistan Nursing Federation, Tahira Tabassum, said: “We already have 52 students whereas 130 more students have been enrolled who all need accommodation because they belong to different districts of the province.”
She said that they had taken over the hostel in June 2005 which is located inside the Postgraduate College of Nursing at the Hayatabad Township. The hostel had been constructed by the Ministry of Women Development, Islamabad, after a 18-year struggle by the Pakistan Nursing Federation.
She said: “The government has warned them of police action if they did not vacate the hostel, but we will not vacate it at any cost because we have no other place to accommodate students.”
She said that the Postgraduate College of Nursing was already facing shortage of tutors, and added that two doctors had been appointed as instructors but they had been drawing their salaries without coming to the college for the past six months.
She said that three posts of tutors were still vacant.
The provinces had implemented the prime minister’s directives of giving BPS-16 to staff nurses while those in the NWFP were being given BPS-14.
Tahira Tabassum said that the NWFP had 1,653 staff nurses besides one Postgraduate College of Nursing that was built in 1988 with a view to providing postgraduate training to nurses in different disciplines.
The college is affiliated with the Sheffield University, UK, which had so far trained 13 students who were now teaching local students.
It offers specialised postgraduate training to students and has so far trained 487 students in Urology, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Intensive Care, Coronary Care, Orthopaedics, Midwifery, Community Health, Mental Health, International Health Education, Management and Operation Theatre.
About 3,000 students are enrolled in 11 nursing schools across the province. They perform duties in wards, operation theatres, OPDs, etc.
Tahira Tabassum said: “According to Pakistan Nursing Federation rules, nursing students are required to study in schools, but we are sending them to hospitals to serve patients.”
She said that the ratio of doctors and nurses is 12:1, which is exactly the opposite of internationally-recognised rules of 1:12.
She said that student nurses were already facing accommodation problems in the Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad; the Hayatabad Medical Complex and the Lady Reading Hospital where the government had allotted their hostels to doctors.
She said: “At least 10 students sleep on the floor in each room and they perform 12-hour duties.”
The vice-president of the Pakistan Nursing Federation said that a few years ago, the secretary health and other officials visited Australia on a scholarship meant for nurses.
She said: “We are not informed about the foreign visits which are often availed by top officials,” and added that they had foreign-qualified nurses at the college.
She said that for the last 57 years few new posts of nurses had been created, while the number of hospitals had tripled during the same period.
She said that they had also sent letters to the chief minister to reconsider the decision of evicting nurses from the hostel because it would put at stake the future of 1,300 students and 2,000 charge nurses.
|
|
|
|
