Acute shortage of nurses in Tamil Nadu

Chennai

The current rate is just 0.9 nurses per 1,000, which is much below the stipulated World Health Organisation norm of 3 nurses per 1,000. Nurses blame poor pay, triggering exodus of qualified nurses to abroad and other states, where there is more demand.

For people like Vasumathi (name changed), a nurse who moved from a government hospital to a private hospital a few years ago, nothing has changed. For as less as Rs 6,000, a majority of nurses in the state like her have been clocking in 12 hours of duty every day.  She says, “I don’t even have time to use the restroom all through the day.”

While Vasumathi doesn’t have a choice, but to continue with long hours of duty for a pittance, thousands of nurses who graduate from colleges with BSc, MSc or possess a doctorate in nursing; greener pastures await in other states and abroad.  

Dr Ani Grace Kalaimathi, Registrar of the Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council, which was started way back in the 20s, reveals that the current number of active nurses in the state is 80,000 at 0.9 nurses per 1,000, abysmally lower than the WHO norm of 3 nurses per 1000.

She says that role of nurses has been extremely limited across healthcare set-ups and diploma holders in nursing have been given preference due to their willingness to work for low pay. She says, “Diploma holders in nursing are mostly those who come from underprivileged families and they  may agree to work for Rs 6,000. But for someone who holds PG or doctorate in nursing, having spent lakhs on their education availing a loan, the nominal pay would be around Rs 15,000.”

She says the preference for diploma holders is forcing several post graduates and doctorate holders to look for jobs abroad and in other states. “If you take the Kerala model of nurse training, in the last year of UG, they serve in hospitals in the state. Nurses from Tamil Nadu also serve in hospitals there and in other states where there are not enough colleges for training nurses or opt to go abroad,” she says.

Dr Ani adds that they can be involved in research activities like studying infection control in the hospital setup and resistance to micro-organisms.

Ismail, a nurse from a government hospital, says that barring a few private hospitals, the starting pay is poor at most institutions. “The pay package is projected as something else, but what nurses receive is nowhere close. Over time, there is just a negligible hike,” he says.

Nursing Woes

• According to WHO norms, there must be 3 nurses per 1,000 patients
• In Tamil Nadu, there are 0.9 nurses per 1,000 patients, at present
• There are 80,000 active nurses in the state