Health Minister holds talks with nurses association on expanding public health nursing sector

Colombo, May 13 (Daily Mirror) - A special discussion between Minister of Health and Mass Media Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa and representatives of the All Ceylon Nurses Association was held yesterday at the Ministry of Health and Mass Media, with special attention focused on expanding the public health nursing sector and resolving professional issues affecting nurses.

The discussion centred on measures to strengthen the public health nursing service, improve human resource utilization and provide a more efficient service to the public, while also addressing several long-standing professional concerns in the sector.

The meeting was held ahead of International Nurses Day, which falls today (12), with the aim of finding prompt solutions to issues affecting the nursing service.

Representatives of the All Ceylon Nurses Association raised several key demands, including problems arising from the release of nursing officers from hospitals for public health nursing training, recruitment methods for public health nursing training by Provincial Councils and the Line Ministry, and ensuring trainees do not face economic hardship during the training period.

They also discussed the need to formally incorporate the public health nursing service into the Sri Lanka Nursing Constitution, provide motorcycles for public health nursing officers, make the sector more attractive, popularise the service, resolve issues at “Arogya” centres and regularise referrals between hospitals and public health nursing services.

The discussion also focused on improving training opportunities, creating essential positions in the sector and addressing several other issues affecting public health nursing officers.

During the meeting, the Minister instructed ministry officials to pay close attention to the requests submitted by the association and take necessary measures to resolve the identified problems.

The Ministry also highlighted several steps taken during the past one and a half years to strengthen the nursing service in the country. These included recruiting 5,103 students for nursing training and providing 3,441 nursing officer appointments.

The Ministry further said that steps are underway to recruit another 2,847 nursing officers in the near future. In addition, 659 persons were recruited for post-primary nursing training, while 554 nursing graduates were recruited for rehabilitation and integration training.

The Ministry also recruited 82 Public Health Nursing Officers and promoted 87 officers in the Special Service Nursing Officer, Hospital Services, Education and Public Health sectors, including appointments to positions such as Principal of Nursing.

It was also revealed that the Ministry had regularised the nurse transfer process, which had not been systematically implemented for years, enabling nearly 2,500 nurses to receive transfers closer to their homes or preferred workplaces.

Several senior ministry officials and representatives of the All Ceylon Nurses Association attended the discussion.