New institutes and revamped courses are necessary to increase the number of nurses and other healthcare professionals
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the demand-supply imbalance in healthcare services, including equipment, drugs, lifesaving machines and healthcare personnel.
Apart from COVID-19, India also faces other health issues like maternal and child health, nutritional deficiencies, and other communicable and non-communicable diseases. India has one government doctor for every 10,189 people, against the WHO recommendation of 1:1000.The nurse:patient ratio is 1:483, which implies a shortage of two million nurses. Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system and the pandemic has increased the pressure on an already overburdened workforce.
However, the crisis has also opened up many opportunities in this sector. To fulfil the gap in the number of nurses, universities and the Nursing Council should re-frame existing policies and create new strategies to increase…