Reproducing below an article of interest to all nursing students:
Article link: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/nurses-council-derecognises-outside-degrees/article5034991.ece
The Kerala Nurses and Midwives’ Council (KNMC) has stopped the registration of additional qualifications acquired by nurses — Post-Basic B.Sc. Nursing and M.Sc. Nursing — from nursing education institutions outside the State after finding that most of these ‘qualifications’ are earned through institutions running bogus courses. From now on, the registration for additional nursing qualifications will be given only to those students who have acquired the degree/diploma from within Kerala.
The said decision was taken with the permission of the Indian Nursing Council (INC). The KNMC has written to the Public Service Commission that it will give registration for additional nursing qualifications secured from within the State alone as many of the so-called courses run by institutions outside the State are illegal and unauthorized.
Students who had secured additional nursing qualifications from colleges outside Kerala could seek registration from the respective State Nursing Council to which the colleges were attached. However, they would not be able to put their higher qualifications to use in Kerala without the KNMC’s endorsement.
The GNM is a three-and-a half year diploma course, while B.Sc. Nursing is a four-year degree course.
Both are primary nursing qualifications, following which one can register as a nurse and work in a hospital. But only a B.Sc. Nursing degree holder can go on to do post graduation and become a faculty member at a nursing college.
A GNM diploma holder will have to do a two-year Post-Basic course to be considered an equivalent of a B.Sc. Nursing degree holder.
The INC has clearly stated that the Post-Basic and the M.Sc. courses should be run as full-time, regular two-year courses, and only such regular courses will be granted recognition. These are courses that require the candidate to put in about 1,600 (Post-Basic) to 2,500 hours (M.Sc.) of practicals.
Many nurses looking to go abroad for better prospects enroll for these courses, paying hefty fee, often not knowing that such part-time or non-attendance long-distance courses are bogus, and these qualifications are not recognized by the INC.
