Registration of 200 health institutions on the cards

ISLAMABAD: Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Dr Nelson Azeem informed the National Assembly on Tuesday that the Pakistan Nursing and Midwifery Council has initially recommended 200 health institutions for registration after inspections confirmed they meet the required standards.

He said that a total of 218 health institutions across the country had applied for the registration.

Replying to the calling attention notice of National Assembly members, Nuzhat Sadiq, Shaista Pervaiz, Shaista Khan and Chaudhry Muhammad Shahbaz Babar regarding a 12-month delay by the Nursing Council in granting permission to health institutions, Nelson said that the Nursing Council Accreditation Committee was responsible for giving final approval to the institutions.

He said the health ministry had written to the Nursing Council to set up the accreditation committee and resolve the matter of public interest at the earliest.

National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq also directed to get an update from the authorities concerned and give a timeframe for resolving the issue.

Last year, a Sub-Committee of the Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination grilled the top officials of the Pakistan Nursing Council for providing an inaccurate list of registered and unregistered nursing colleges across the country.

The committee meeting received a briefing from the Pakistan Nursing Council officials regarding the status of nursing colleges in the country.

Pakistan Nursing Council officials told the committee that out of 381 private nursing colleges, 37 unregistered ones have been shut down.

They said that the inspection of nursing colleges was ongoing nationwide, and any illegal colleges found would be closed down.

Senator Rubina Khalid stressed the need to identify and take legal action against those responsible for registering illegal nursing colleges.

She pointed out that illegal licences have been issued to open colleges where nurses were not adequately trained, leading to unfortunate incidents where people have lost their lives because of untrained individuals who were unable to administer injections.

She questioned the list provided by the former registrar of the Pakistan Nursing Council, Fozia Mushtaq, about nursing colleges. She asked why only 234 nursing colleges were listed when there should be more.

She said that due to these colleges, students were at risk. “It is shameful. People are not ashamed of their actions. Nurses from private colleges opt to go abroad. Nurses of government hospitals have deteriorated. Precious lives are being lost due to nurses trained by illegal nursing colleges. The lives of our loved ones are being lost because of these nurses.”

She also inquired if these colleges were hiding any information or operating without legal permits.

Fozia Mushtaq failed to provide a satisfactory response, leading to the Senate demanding the complete data of nursing colleges within a week.

Senator Mehr Taj Roghani instructed Fozia Mushtaq to verify the list of colleges thoroughly and provide all the information.

She also mentioned that a nursing college in Karachi was operating under the same name in Hyderabad, despite having no students or practical training.

Senator Mehtab Durrani questioned the report provided by the Pakistan Nursing Council regarding the names of colleges, especially those that have been closed. He asked for the names of the five nursing schools that had been shut down and how they were granted licences.

He also inquired if government employees could open institutions and whether they could continue to work there after retirement, both at the federal and provincial levels. He asked for details to be provided at the next meeting.

Senator Taj Roghani sought a verification of the list of all colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. She said she wanted to know how they were preparing these lists, despite having no physical presence of colleges. She sought a thorough investigation of all illegal nursing colleges.

The Pakistan Nursing Council officials told the meeting that they have closed 37 illegal nursing colleges out of a total of 510 colleges in Pakistan