PESHAWAR: Khyber Medical University has decided to set up a nursing college in Chitral to provide training to the local candidates in their own district.

According to a press release, KMU Vice-chancellor Prof Ziaul Haq told Pakistan Nursing Council member Fazal Maula during a meeting that majority of women nurses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa belonged to Chitral.

He said that KMU was ready to open a nursing college in Chitral. He said that the college would provide an opportunity to locals to study nursing in their own district.

Prof Zia said that female students would be encouraged to get enrolled in nursing colleges and efforts would be made to provide scholarships to women in the affiliated institutions.

He said that nursing was the backbone of health system and increasing the quality of nursing education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the need of the hour. He said that KMU was playing a leading role in improvement and development of nursing education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Pakistan.

Prof Zia said that KMU would soon organise monitoring visits to affiliated institutions to check the academic quality of nursing programmes.

The meeting discussed that internship was very important for nursing students as per guidelines of Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) and KMU should play its role in ensuring internships for its core nursing colleges.

KMU has started nursing programmes in Swat, Swabi, Kurram and Islamabad and wants to affiliate these institutes with PNC on a priority basis.

Prof Zia said that KMU was ready to invest in nursing education. “We want to open new nursing colleges to bring high quality low-cost nursing education to the people of remote areas of the province at their doorsteps. To promote nursing education in the remote areas of the province, the support and patronage of PNC is of primary importance,” he added.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2023