The Indian Nursing Council has sanctioned a nursing college for the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital, the tertiary referral centre for Western districts and border areas of Kerala. The college is likely to begin admitting students as early as the next academic year.
A national regulatory body for nurses and nurse education in India, the Council is an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Hospital sources told The Hindu that the building plan was discussed with the Public Works Department (Medical Wing) on Wednesday. They were likely to be approved shortly and the PWD would soon call for tender.
A hospital official said that while diploma students of nursing were sought after in India for the field experience, those going abroad will need a degree. Foreign universities gave preference for applicants with undergraduate or postgraduate degree.
The hospital already has a School of Nursing, which offered a diploma course with a duration three-and-a-half years.
The newly-sanctioned college of nursing would offer a four-year undergraduate degree of B.Sc. and a postgraduate degree of M.Sc., which will have duration of two years.
The College will offer B.Sc. alone in the initial years with 50 seats.
The postgraduate course will start at a later date.
The Nursing Council will inspect the College building, for which a site of 3.5 acres had been identified at the Coimbatore Medical College.
According to sources, the Council has directed the CMCH to reduce the number of seats in its diploma to 100 from the current seat strength of 145.
As of now, the CMCH School of Nursing had 140 students in the first year, 135 in the second and 132 in the final year.
Separately, the College will also soon begin constructing a hostel building for nursing students.
