In a high-stakes meeting at Lok Seva Bhawan today, Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Mukesh Mahaling sent a clear message — Odisha will no longer tolerate substandard nursing education or any compromise on student safety.
Chairing the crucial review meeting, the Minister stressed that building a world-class nursing education system demands uncompromising adherence to prescribed standards across all institutions. “Quality of education, safety of students, and training standards must receive the highest priority. No form of irregularity will be tolerated,” he asserted.
To translate words into action, Dr Mahaling directed every District Collector to immediately launch impartial and comprehensive inspections of all private nursing educational institutions in their districts. These checks will be conducted through specially constituted district-level inspection teams, with District Fire Officers also included to evaluate fire safety and infrastructure compliance.
All District Collectors have been asked to complete the inspections and submit detailed reports to the Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET), Odisha, by the end of July. Institutions found violating norms will face strict punitive action, the Minister warned.
Alongside the nursing education reforms, the Minister reviewed the ongoing ‘Stop Diarrhoea Campaign’, being run jointly by the Health Department and Panchayati Raj Department from June 16 to July 31. The campaign has gained urgency due to the expected rise in waterborne and vector-borne diseases during the monsoon and Rath Yatra season.
Through this initiative, drinking water sources are being purified, while ASHA workers (Asha Didis) and frontline health personnel are going door-to-door distributing Zinc tablets and ORS packets, educating families on safe water practices and early treatment of diarrhoea, dengue, chikungunya, and malaria.
The meeting was attended by Commissioner-cum-Secretary Aswathy S., all Directors and senior officers of the Health and Family Welfare Department. District Collectors and Chief District Medical & Public Health Officers participated virtually from across the state.
With firm directives on nursing standards and intensified grassroots awareness against monsoon diseases, the Odisha government is clearly focused on both long-term healthcare workforce quality and immediate public health protection.
