'India in dire need of more nurses'

Due to rising demand for tertiary and quaternary care in India, the need to have trained nurses is expected to grow in the coming years.

According to FICCI - EY report titled 'Nursing reforms: Paradigm shift for a bright future', India has only 0.7 doctors and 1.7 nurses available per thousand people. The country also ranks 75th amongst 133 developing countries with regards to the number of nurses.

Despite being a major supplier of the health workforce, the health care industry in India is suffering a wide gap. To narrow it down, India needs an additional 2.4 million nurses to meet the growing demand.

The nursing sector in India continues to experience challenges, states the report. Some of them being availability, distribution and retention, with the lack of a rewarding career progression, individual welfare, and income parity being cited as key reasons, amongst others.

Also, alternative careers with better remuneration and less stressful work environments and opportunities to migrate abroad tend to better attract nurses.

"Nurses have a direct influence and role in determining the quality of care that is rendered to a patient. A special emphasis has to be given to their continuous training and development for them to be able to leverage investments in initiatives such as digital health.", says Vineet Chhatwal, Partner, EY India.

The report also notes that there is a dire need for for nursing transformation at the national and state levels in both the government and private sectors. New opportunities for nurses to participate in shaping the future health care delivery system should be provided.

Additionally, there exists a manpower skew and uneven opportunity of nursing education across the country.  To counter this, nursing studies should be advanced in order to remains relevant for the current technological environment, and rising customer centricity.