Nursing is an old activity but a young profession; and that is certainly true of nursing in India.

Due to the persistence of certain outmoded social outlooks, nursing is yet to become a popular profession. Even today there is a tendency to regard nursing as the refuge of the widow and the orphan. This was the case even in the time of Florence Nightingale, who did a great deal in raising the profession of nursing to one of service to humanity.

The story of India’s nursing needs is one where the figures are dramatic enough to tell their tale without any commentary.

Denmark has nearly 18,000 nurses for a population of less than 4 million. Great Britain has about 130,000 nurses for a population of 40 million. In India we have about 7,000 sanctioned nursing posts. There are 5,000 student nurses and about 12,000 graduate nurses in all, for a population of 360 million.

Old medical books, compiled about 200 B.C. or earlier by Indian doctors, make a mention of nurses. Nursing was recognised as an important factor in the cure of the sick. Modern nursing, however, may be said to have spread to India from the West in the eighteen-eighties. The first training school for nurses was opened in the Cama Hospital in Bombay in 1886. As early as 1911, registration of nurses was undertaken by the Bombay Presidency Nursing Association, though State registration came into force much later.

It took the Second World War to bring about the recognition of the value of nursing services with a force sufficient to lead to the establishment of three centres for Post-Certificate Education for nurses. A second and perhaps greater advance was the institution in 1946 of a course leading to a B.Sc. Degree in Nursing. The duration of the course is four years and it prepares the nurse to work in an institution or in the public health field. Two schools give this course : the College of Nursing, Delhi, and the School of Nursing of the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore.

In the Community Projects programme, provision has been made for one Lady health Visitor and four Midwives in each primary health centre. The total requirement for the 600 blocks is, therefore, 600 Lady Health Visitors and 2400 Mid-wives. At present there are nine Health Schools which have lately been training only 70 Health Visitors against their total capacity of about 150 a year. It has, therefore, been decided to expand training facilities by conducting two courses at each of these nine schools. One course of 18 months will train candidates who possess necessary school education and midwifery training. The other is a regular, integrated two-and-a-half-years course which will provide mid-wifery and health visitors’ training for candidates recruited directly after matriculation. Financial assistance will be given for additions and alternations to the existing buildings, additional staff and equipment and stipends to the trainees. The total expenditure during the period of the Plan for each school would be about Rs. 1.92 lakhs. The total liability for the Centre during the Plan period would be about Rs. 11.88 lakhs and that of the States Rs. 2.72 lakhs.

The number of mid-wives at present being trained in the various States is about 1600. It is proposed to give assistance to certain States for training about 300 Mid-wives during the period of the Plan. The assistance would be in the form of stipends to the trainees and provision of additional equipment, furniture and training facilities. The total liability of the Centre during the Plan period would be about Rs. 4,77,000 and that of the States Rs. 2,13,000.