ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Dr. Nelson Azeem informed the National Assembly on Tuesday that the Pakistan Nursing and Midwifery Council had initially recommended 200 health facilities to register after the Inspectors confirm that they meet the required standards.
He said a total of 218 medical facilities across the country have applied for registration.
Responding to a call for attention by members of the National Assembly, Nuzhat Sadiq, Shaista Pervaiz, Shaista Khan and Chaudhry Muhammad Shahbaz Babar on the 12-month delay in licensing of medical facilities by the Nursing Council, Nelson said that the Board of Nursing’s Credentialing Committee was responsible for giving final approval to the institutions.
He said the Ministry of Health has sent a document to the Nursing Council to establish an accreditation committee and resolve the issue of public concern as soon as possible.
National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq also directed to get updated information from relevant agencies and provide a time frame to resolve the issue.
Last year, a Subcommittee of the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination criticized top officials of the Pakistan Nursing Council for providing an inaccurate list of Registered and unregistered nursing colleges nationwide.
The committee meeting received a briefing from officials of the Pakistan Nursing Council on the status of nursing colleges in the country.
Officials of the Pakistan Nursing Council told the committee that out of 381 private nursing colleges, 37 unregistered colleges were closed.
They said that inspection of nursing colleges is going on across the country and any illegal colleges found will be shut down.
Senator Rubina Khalid emphasized the need to identify and take legal action against those responsible for registering illegal nursing colleges.
She pointed out that illegal licenses were issued to open colleges where nurses were not adequately trained, leading to unfortunate incidents where people died because untrained people were unable to administer injections. medicine.
She questioned the list provided by Fozia Mushtaq, former registrar of Pakistan Nursing Council, of nursing colleges. She asked why there were only 234 nursing colleges listed when there should have been more.
She said that because of these colleges, students are at risk. “What a shame. People are not ashamed of their actions. Nurses from private colleges choose to go abroad. Nurses in government hospitals have deteriorated. Precious lives are being lost due to nurses being trained by illegal nursing colleges. The lives of our loved ones are being lost because of these nurses.”
She also asked whether these colleges hid any information or operated without legal licenses.
Fozia Mushtaq failed to provide a satisfactory response, leading to the Senate demanding complete data on nursing colleges within a week.
Senator Mehr Taj Roghani instructed Fozia Mushtaq to thoroughly verify the list of colleges and provide all information.
She also mentioned that a nursing college in Karachi is functioning under the same name in Hyderabad, though without students or actual training.
Senator Mehtab Durrani questioned the report provided by the Pakistan Nursing Council on the names of colleges, especially those that were closed. He asked for the names of the five closed nursing schools and how they were licensed.
He also asked whether government employees could open institutions and whether they could continue working there after retirement, at both the federal and provincial levels. He asked for detailed information at the next meeting.
Senator Taj Roghani demanded verification of the list of all colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She said she wanted to know how they prepare these lists, despite the lack of physical presence of the universities. She sought a thorough investigation of all illegal nursing colleges.
Officials of the Pakistan Nursing Council told the meeting that they have closed down 37 illegal nursing colleges out of the total 510 colleges in Pakistan.