Ahmedabad: In a growing protest, nursing students across the state are joining the call for increased stipends, mirroring the ongoing strike by medical resident doctors over their recent stipend hike issues. The state has approximately eight BSc nursing, 18 general nursing and midwifery (GNM), and 20 auxiliary nurse and midwife (ANM) govt colleges, with around 5,000 students enrolled.
While recent decisions aimed to align nursing stipends with those in medical, dental and ayurveda fields, current stipends remain low: GNM students receive Rs 1,220 per month, ANM students get Rs 500 and BSc nursing students, despite a mandatory six-month internship, receive no stipend at all. The last stipend increase for GNM students was in 2002 and for ANM students in 2005, resulting in a 22-year and 20-year stagnation, respectively.
Nursing students argue that their rigorous patient care duties are on par with those of doctors, yet they have not seen a stipend increase for over two decades. Despite repeated appeals to the health minister, the issue remains unresolved, fueling growing unrest among the nursing community.
