NEW DELHI: A group of health professionals with disabilities has raised the issue of Indian Nursing Council (INC) restricting the five per cent reservation in BSc Nursing course only to those with lower-limb disability and that too for 40-50 per cent disabled.
Addressing the concerns, Dr Satendra Singh, founder, Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change, has written to the secretaries of Union Health Ministry and the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, and the president of the Indian Nursing Council (INC).
“Unlike the National Medical Commission’s (erstwhile MCI) competency-based curriculum in 2019, which lacked the key word ‘dignity’, INC’s revised curriculum puts the focus on disability, diversity and human rights and mentions the term ‘dignity’ at six places,” stated the letter addressed to the INC.
“However, there are a few areas of concern and we would like to highlight for your immediate attention and rectification — Barriers to eligible learners with disabilities; barriers to candidates with colour blindness; lack of disability competencies to uphold disability rights in the curriculum; barriers to eligible learners with disabilities,” the letter added. However, according to the group, the INC did not respond to the letter and hence it had again written to the Union ministry.
“The reservation policy mentions that five per cent disability reservation to be considered for disabled candidates with a disability of locomotor to the tune of 40 to 50 per cent of the lower extremity,” read the letter. The group has placed a demand to repeal the “discriminatory” clause, to involve nurses with disabilities and disability rights activists in framing new guidelines and to include disability competencies in the new curriculum.