KARACHI, Jan 1: The federal government is contemplating constituting a committee for developing the nursing sector on modern and scientific lines.

Speaking at the 46th graduation ceremony of the College of Nursing at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre on Wednesday, Federal Secretary Health Ejaz Rahim said the formation of a task force was under way to strengthen nursing education and training in the country.

The committee would comprise experts. It would be tasked with addressing the qualitative aspects of education and training imparted in nursing training schools/colleges, he said.

The secretary acknowledged the wide gap between the availability of nurses and the population, and said both qualitative and quantitative aspects had to be given due consideration while contemplating any programme with reference to public healthcare.

Mr Rahim appreciated the administration of the JPMC College of Nursing for taking initiative and introducing graduate-level programmes for nurses in such specialized fields as psychiatry, community medicine, etc.

It was commendable that more than 3,400 nurses trained in specialized fields at the college, over the years, had emerged to be an asset for hospitals across the country, he said.

Taking notice of the shortage of instructors at the JPMC College of Nursing, the health secretary assured that this complaint would be removed in the minimum possible time.

He emphasized that though there was a shortage of nurses in the country, the standard of education and training should be maintained and quality should not be sacrificed at the altar of quality.

The federal secretary also assured to extend due consideration towards the share of JPMC doctors as well as graduates of the nursing school in the scholarship programme meant for federal government employees.

He also called upon doctors and nurses to adopt a holistic approach to healthcare issues.

He particularly referred to population explosion in the country, but said efforts aimed at arresting the harmful trend had bore fruit. However, the population growth rate was still high, he said.

He deplored the socio-economic imbalance in the country, saying the GDP of Pakistan since its establishment had grown by 120 times, but there had been a mere six times increase in per capita income. This state of affairs called for corrective steps, he said.

Later, talking to journalists, Mr Rahim called for concerted efforts to create public awareness of the preventive aspects of diseases.

M. Nadir Khan, the Principal of JPMC College of Nursing, in her address of welcome mentioned the achievements of the college, and said 81 students, 44 for ward administration and 28 for teaching and administration, had graduated from the school during 2002.

She said the college also had a specialization in midwifery programme of two years’ duration and there were other programmes such as neurology, nephrology and intensive care. Besides, training was also imparted in community health nursing and psychiatric health nursing.

She said the college was about to introduce a BSc (N) degree programme to be recognized by Karachi University

Dr Kazi Abdul Shakoor, the Director of the JPMC, mentioned the paucity of funds that was hampering various development schemes at the hospital.

Mr Dilshad and Mr Manzoor received gold medals for community health nursing and psychiatric nursing, respectively. They were besides Capt Tahseen Nuzhat, Farzana Begum, Ms Kauser Perveen, Ms Musarrat Rani, Capt Durr-i-Yakta and Capt Farha Deeba.

The health secretary said most health problems arose from poverty. Referring to the poverty problem around the globe, Mr Rahim pointed out that 1.2 billion people, about 40 per cent of the world population, in the world had an income of one dollar a day. Another 30 per cent of the population earned two dollars a day.

He was of the view that poverty was not just an economic problem but it was the number one health-sector problem of nations around the world.—APP