NEW DELHI: In a surprising move, the Delhi government has proposed the abolition of posts of Public Health Nursing Officers (PHNOs) and replacing them with an equivalent number of nursing officer posts.
A meeting was convened on December 26 on the directions of the Special Secretary (Health & Family Welfare) to discuss the proposal on abolition of posts of PHNO and creation of same number of the posts of Nursing Officer, a document accessed by this newspaper read. Director General of Health Services and administrative staff well conversant with the issue were urged to attend the meeting.
The proposal, floated for a meeting on Tuesday, has drawn criticism from the nursing fraternity; PHNOs play a pivotal role in leading preventive health programmes in communities and schools, focusing on critical areas such as child immunisation, malaria control, tuberculosis (TB) and cholera prevention. In contrast, nursing officers are primarily stationed in hospitals.
The proposed move has left experts questioning how this decision aligns with the city’s public health priorities.
“When the WHO is focusing on preventive health, the health department of the Delhi government is prioritising curative health. The proposal to abolish the PHNO role and replace it with generic Nursing Officer post is a significant concern. While Nursing Officers provide critical clinical care, PHNOs hold a specialised public health role essential for planning, implementation, and monitoring of public health programmes. This move risks undermining the public health infrastructure of Delhi, leading to gaps in community healthcare,” commented GK Khurana, general secretary, All India Government Nurses Federation.