Jubilee Post News & Views
Jubilee News Desk
Uttar Pradesh aspires to be a hub for quality medical education. In recent years, it has rapidly ramped up the number of medical colleges under the One-District-One-Medical College scheme. Recognizing this need for quality nurses & paramedical professionals, the Chief Minister launched Mission Niramaya on 8th October 2022 to transform the quality of education/ training received by these personnel. The six initiatives specially prioritized under Mission Niramaya include a rating mechanism for institutions, a mentorship system to improve the quality of teaching/learning, building strong partnerships with potential employers, approaching schools to attract talented youngsters to these professions, setting up stringent standards for admissions & licentiate examinations and building a digital platform underpinning all the above activities to ensure a fair and transparent regulatory framework.
On 25th March, the UP Govt formally announced the initiation of a Quality Improvement Program for nursing and paramedical institutes in the State at the event “Leading the Charge: Uttar Pradesh’s Mission Niramaya Innovates to Transform Future Healthcare Workforce in India’ held in Lucknow. Principal Secretary, Medical Education Alok Kumar, President Indian Nursing Council Dr. T. Dileep Kumar, Ms. Achala, ADG, Nursing GOI, Dr. Deepika Khakha, Nursing Advisor, GOI were the guests of honor at the event attended by key medical professionals, medical institutes, health departments, and important members of the community.
Mission Niramaya aims to achieve the shift in the standards of the institutes through a vigorous mentoring program where a set of mentor institutes will assist mentee institutes to strengthen their teaching standards and eventually position Uttar Pradesh as a leader in nursing and paramedical education, producing highly skilled and internationally competitive professionals.
In the first phase of the mentoring program, 12 institutes were selected as mentors based on their adherence to the mandates of the Indian Nursing Council. They subsequently received 5-day training on effective teaching, demonstration, and mentorship skills by the UP State Medical Faculty and its technical partner JHPIEGO in December 2022. These institutes will now mentor 47 newly onboarded mentee institutes to improve their capacity and raise standards to improve the quality of the healthcare workforce being currently trained in the state.
“Mission Niramaya’s values center on quality, accessibility, empowerment, innovation, integrity, and collaboration. It is committed to making nursing and paramedical careers more aspirational and also incorporating best practices in the current pedagogy. The mentoring initiative being mainstreamed today is a part of our ongoing efforts and commitment to improving the standards of nursing and paramedical education in Uttar Pradesh. We are confident that this program will help to bring the trained workforce up to global standards,” said Shri Alok Kumar while elaborating on Mission Niramaya’s mentoring program.
“Investing in nursing education and training is crucial for providing quality healthcare services. The establishment of state-of-the-art simulation centers through public and private partnerships, implementation of nurse-patient ratios, filling of vacant posts in clinical and nursing institutions, and rolling out nurse practitioner programs are essential steps towards achieving a sustainable nursing workforce and improving patient outcomes,” said Dr. T. Dileep Kumar, President Indian Nursing Council, while talking about policy level initiatives required to empower nursing education.
The program included an overview of Mission Niramaya and the progress achieved thus far. Other speakers included Ms. Durga Shakti Nagpal, Special Secretary, Medical Education, GoUP, Dr. N. Vasantha Kumar, Executive Director, UP-TSU who spoke on Nursing In UP: Current Scenario, Challenges, and Opportunities and Competency Assessment and Signalling – Linkage to Jobs respectively in the first half of the program. The latter part was dedicated to an experience-sharing, learning, and brainstorming workshop where institutes shared their experiences, the challenges they faced, and the steps they took to overcome them. The proceedings ended with a formalization of the partnership framework between the mentor and mentee institutes.
The goal of Mission Niramaya is to improve nursing and paramedical institutes in Uttar Pradesh through mentoring, to raise the standards of sub-par institutes, and improve the quality of the healthcare workforce in the state. The program includes plans to improve perceptions of these careers among the public and policymakers and to reach out to students through counseling and other advocacy efforts. Mission Niramaya also aims to open doors to access lucrative assignments at prestigious institutes across the world for these trained professionals and make these careers more attractive.
