As part of its ongoing mission to improve the health infrastructure and hone skills of the nursing and paramedical staff, the Uttar Pradesh government will soon introduce five new health-related courses to the UP Skill Development Mission, a government press release said on Saturday.
The courses to be included are OT technician, radiotherapy technician, anesthesia technician, dialysis technician and MRI technician.
"The government is gearing up to make three paramedical and six nursing schools operational and lay the foundation stone of 24 skill labs within six months. Admissions to GNM and BSc Nursing courses will be through National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) (NEET)," a government spokesman said.
The official said that the government had prepared a detailed road map for enhancing the quality of training through establishment of nursing colleges in government medical colleges as well as district hospitals and increasing seats in them. He said the government was also working on improving the quality of private nursing colleges.
"Lack of skilled human resources in the health sector has been a major obstacle in the improvement of healthcare in the state for the past several decades and this government wants to overcome it,” he said.
The statement said that the government had set an ambitious target to make 49 nursing and paramedical schools each functional in the state in five years. It said the government would also increase seats substantially in different courses in order to accommodate more aspirants, including 7,000 seats in MBBS, 3,000 in post-graduate, 14,500 in nursing and 3,600 in paramedical courses.
UP, which had only 12 medical colleges until 2017, has seen remarkable improvement in the health services during the Yogi Adityanath government. Medical facilities have been expanded in the state to make quality healthcare accessible to people.