Centre seeks status report on nurse registrations sans scrutiny

Mumbai: The ministry of health and family welfare has demanded a status report from the Maharashtra Nursing Council (MNC) following the media agency's report on nurses who were registered without any documents.

Meanwhile, the state's medical education department also sprung into action and sought details after Wednesday's article on 1,200-plus nurse registration certificates are missing from the MNC. The absence of these certificates, which bore valid registration numbers and stamps, indicated that these were sold in the open market. Interestingly, it was the state government's audit which unearthed the lapse.

The Centre had reacted to Tuesday's article on 36,657 applicants being registered as nurses without any documentary evidence in the past four years. Rakesh Kumar, deputy director in the ministry of health and family welfare, called on the MNC president and asked for a detailed status report.

Dr Ashwini Joshi, secretary of medical education, Maharashtra, confirmed that MNC was asked for details following the two news articles. "We will see how to proceed after the details come in," she told the media agency.