ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Education and Profession Training Shafqat Mahmood has launched the inaugural Nursing Scholarship Program.
Addressing the launching ceremony, the federal minister said that the incumbent government has allocated 1000 Scholarship for Nursing program for the first time in history with the allocation of Rs310 million for the year 2020. He said the ministry would further spend Rs1.24 billion for expending Nursing Scholarship in the next four years.
The minister said that equal opportunities for most deserving but talented students were provided to all areas of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and the former tribal areas so that talented students who aspire to pursue nursing as a career but cannot afford it can benefit through this program.
The total intake as per approved seats allocated by Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) for year 2020 for nurses is approximately 5000, which implies that 1000 scholarships can benefit twenty percent of students.
Mr Mahmood has said nursing students usually belong to very poor families and are from very low-income category groups. They want to adopt this profession but cannot afford the fee and are usually forced to signed tough agreements with the affiliated hospitals who pay them very less and bound them to work for 5 to 8 years.
He said the Year 2020 is being observed as nursing year globally and the government has brought unique and exclusive steps to promote nursing in the country
He added that here was critical need for financial assistance of current working professional nurses to upgrade themselves by studying the four years Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree program since the nursing diploma programs would become obsolete from next year onwards.
Pakistan is far below the critical level for Human Resources for Health (HRH), being amongst the most lowest countries of the world, while the health system in Pakistan remains beset by a growing nursing workforce crisis.
ADVERTISEMENT
