Chennai, July 18 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu government has initiated steps to significantly expand nursing education by introducing around 1,500 new B.Sc. Nursing seats in government medical colleges across the state from the next academic year.
The move is aimed at making professional nursing education more affordable and accessible while addressing the growing demand for trained healthcare professionals in the country.
At present, six government medical colleges in Tamil Nadu offer a total of 510 B.Sc. Nursing seats. Students admitted to these institutions pay an annual tuition fee of just ₹13,750, making government colleges a far more affordable option than private institutions, where annual tuition fees can be as high as ₹1.20 lakh.
The proposed expansion comes in response to sustained demands from students and parents for additional government nursing seats.
Officials said the initiative is expected to reduce the financial burden on families while increasing opportunities for aspiring nursing students.
During the previous DMK administration, the state had initiated preliminary work to establish 10 new pharmacy and nursing colleges. However, those proposals did not progress to the implementation stage.
The present TDP-led government has now decided to revive and expand the state’s nursing and pharmacy education infrastructure.
As part of the plan, B.Sc. Nursing courses are proposed to be introduced in 14 government medical colleges across Tamil Nadu.
The institutions identified for the expansion include medical colleges in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Dharmapuri, Tirunelveli, Tiruchirappalli and Namakkal, among others.
Officials from the Directorate of Medical Education said the government has directed the department to increase the intake in paramedical education alongside undergraduate medical and dental programmes.
The expansion is intended to strengthen the state’s healthcare workforce by producing a larger pool of qualified nurses and allied health professionals.
In addition to the new nursing seats, the government is also planning to introduce more than 700 pharmacy course seats as part of the same expansion programme.
Authorities are currently working on creating the required infrastructure, including classrooms, laboratories, hostel facilities and other academic resources.
The recruitment of faculty members and other teaching staff is also underway to ensure the institutions meet the regulatory requirements before the courses begin.
Officials expressed confidence that the infrastructure development and faculty appointments would be completed in time, allowing the new B.Sc. Nursing and pharmacy courses to become operational from the next academic year, substantially increasing the availability of affordable healthcare education in Tamil Nadu.
–IANS
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