Hyderabad: Telangana Jagruthi president K. Kavitha on Wednesday opposed the nurses credit points rule and demanded that the state government immediately halt what she described as harassment of nursing staff over registration renewals.
In a statement, she criticised the requirement of securing 150 credit points within five years for renewal of nurses’ registrations. She termed the rule irrational and impractical. According to her, the policy failed to reflect the working conditions of nurses.
Kavitha demands review of nurses credit points rule
Kavitha said that after the Indian Nursing Council introduced the regulations, the Telangana Nursing Council did not create adequate awareness. As a result, she claimed that nearly 80,000 nursing professionals in Telangana now faced difficulties in renewing their registrations. She alleged that many nurses remained unaware of the requirement to complete 150 hours of Continuing Nursing Education within five years.
She said nurses who met her expressed concern that the council had not properly informed them about the changes. Therefore, she argued that issuing strict renewal orders based on the nurses credit points rule was arbitrary.
Kavitha stated that nurses worked long and demanding shifts. In that context, she questioned how they could attend two conferences a month to earn credit points. She also asked how authorities accounted for the period during the COVID-19 pandemic when conferences were not held.
Further, she demanded an immediate review and rollback of the five-year, 150-credit-point norm. In addition, she urged the state government to enact legislation ensuring a minimum monthly salary of ₹20,000 for nurses in private hospitals, citing directions of the Supreme Court of India.
Kavitha warned that if authorities continued enforcing the nurses credit points rule without changes, Telangana Jagruthi would consider launching a statewide agitation in support of nurses.