Over 90pc private nursing colleges in Sindh bogus: Senate panel

ISLAMABAD: Over 90 percent of the private nursing schools and colleges in Sindh, as well as in many other parts of the country, are bogus as either they are being run by government employees, are affiliated with Universities and hospitals hundreds of kilometres away or exist only on papers, Senator Jam Mehtab Dahar, member of Senate Sub-Committee on Health said on Monday.

“Our inquiry has revealed that most of the private nursing schools and colleges in Sindh, approximately 90 percent as well as many in other parts of the country are bogus and are not being run in a transparent manner. For instance, one of the nursing colleges is being run by a person, who was sacked by me for stealing medicines from a public hospital when I was Sindh health minister, got reinstated and is now running a nursing college”, Senator Dahar observed during the meeting of Senate Sub-Committee on health.

The meeting was presided over by Senator Rubina Khalid, who expressed serious reservations over the functioning of the Pakistan Nursing Council (PNC) and gave one month’s time to the Ministry of Health and Pakistan Nursing Council to take action against bogus nursing colleges and close them down.

Senator Dr Mehr Taj Roghani deplored that for the last year, they are raising the issues in the Pakistan Nursing Colleges Council but nobody was taking the matter seriously, saying people were dying and getting permanently disabled due to negligence and ignorance of incompetent nurses. Head of Senate Sub-Committee Senator Rubina Khalid once again raised the issue of repatriation of the Assistant Registrar of PNC to her parent department, observing that the matter is pending for the last year, it shows the power of the PNC which seems to be even greater than the Prime Minister. She said that this is evident since the PMC failed to implement the directions of the Senate committee as well as the National Assembly committee regarding the repatriation of Mrs Yasmeen Azad, Assistant Registrar of Pakistan Nursing Council.

Additional Secretary Health Kamran Rehman secretary informed that with the formation of the new council, the role of the registrar and other personnel on deputation will be changed. He apprised the committee that a new Nursing Council has been constituted, which will act as a governing body and its first meeting will be held tomorrow (Wednesday). He said that once the new council starts to operate the issue of fake degrees and colleges will immediately be addressed and an order of repatriation will also be complied.

The sub-committee decided that the new council in particular its president and representatives would be invited to the next sub-committee meeting, soon after the first internal meeting of the council The PNC in its brief to the sub-committee wrote that it does not recognize any ghost or fake nursing institutes and recommended stern legal actions against any ghost institutes. The sub-committee also directed the PNC to provide an inquiry report on monitoring of ghost colleges and as to whether any of them got closed by the council, in the next meeting.

It also questioned the point mentioned in the brief that no other department (govt or private except PNC) can regulate or conduct the nursing diplomas/degrees/ courses /programmes being offered by registrar nursing institutes /colleges in the country.

“What kind of mafia is this’’ Senator Rubina Khalid remarked, does PNC has no monitoring authority? “She questioned and directed the Ministry to give a briefing on the amendment in the PNC (Amendment) Act, 2023. The meeting was attended by Senator Prof Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, Senator Jam Mehtab Hussian Dahar, Additional Secretary Ministry of Health and other representatives from the ministry and PNC.