People with upper limb disabilities have been debarred from the upcoming National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) examination for nursing to be conducted on September 12. The Indian Nursing Council (INC), a national regulatory body for nurses and nurse education in India, has restricted five per cent of reservation in Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) Nursing only to those with 40-50 per cent lower limb disabilities.
The reservation policy by the public journal Gazette of India mandated five per cent disability reservation for disabled candidates with “a disability of loco-motor to the tune of 40% to 50% of the lower extremity”.
Upset with the government’s decision, Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change — a pan-India group of health professionals with disabilities for social justice including nurses with disabilities — had issued a letter to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities on August 29.
“We are shocked to see the above gazette notification by the Indian Nursing Council (INC) restricting the 5% reservation in BSc Nursing only to those with lower limb disability and that too for 40-50% disabled,” reads the letter.
“There are many applicants with disabilities who want to go into either medical or nursing fields. Criteria should not be specific to lower and upper disability,” Satendra Singh, Founder, Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change, told Gaon Connection. “The nursing council has limited the reservation to lower limb disability only upto fifty per cent,” he added.
“If you have dyslexia (a learning disorder) you can still become a doctor,” Singh said.
Last month on August 6, the National Testing Agency, an Indian government agency to conduct entrance examinations for higher educational institutions, also released an urgent public notice for B.Sc (Nursing) course aspirants in NEET 2021 regarding the reservation policy allowing only Divyangjan (people having non-functional body parts) candidates with a disability of locomotor to the tune of 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the lower extremity for each nursing programme.
According to the 2016 Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (RPDA), 21 types of disabilities have been identified. These include hearing impairment, dwarfism, sickle cell disease, acid attack victims, speech and language disability, cerebral palsy.
“This is not a superhuman field. We need compassionate caregivers. Not all nurses work in city hospitals, the majority work in community health centres in rural areas. A nurse with a hearing disability can easily work in a rural hospital. Why to debar such people?” asked Singh.
“Right now in the nursing profession you will see nurses with one or both leg disabilities. This is a stereotype,” he said.
Health professionals demand repeal of the discriminatory clause
This is not the first time when the health professionals raised this concern. Last month on August 24, the network of health professionals wrote to President Indian Nursing Council T Dileep Kumar.
When it didn’t receive a response, Doctors with Disabilities: Agents of Change along with 22 nurses with disabilities wrote to the health ministry on August 29.
The health professionals have urged the health ministry, under which the Indian Nursing Council falls, and Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities responsible for monitoring the implementation of the RPDA 2016, to direct the nursing council to:
- Repeal the discriminatory clause for admission of candidates with disabilities in the nursing profession.
- Involve nurses with disabilities, and disability rights activists in framing new guidelines.
- To include disability competencies (disability rights) in the revised new curriculum.
“Exam is to be conducted on September 12. Those with lower limb disability upto 50 per cent are allowed. Unfortunately, others will miss the 2022 batch. But we are hoping in subsequent years, the rules will be amended,” said Singh.
