Nursing students demand cancellation of registration of TEB nurses  

Nursing students staged demonstration demanding cancellation of registration of Technical Education Board's (TEB) Patient Care Technology students as nurses.

Thousands of students of the BSC in Nursing, Diploma in Nursing and Diploma in Midwifery formed a human chain on Saturday in front of the National Press Club under the banner of Bangladesh Student Nurses and Midwives Sammilito Parishad (BSNMSP), demanding cancellation of the health ministry's decision.

BSNMSP Convener Imranul Huq Himel said the controversial decision taken by the health ministry to register Patient Care Technology students as nurses must be canceled immediately. 

He suggested that they should be registered as Patient Care Technology diploma holders.

Himel said, "Although their course and curriculum are conflicting with the nursing profession, some conspirators, claiming themselves nurses, are seeking certificates from Bangladesh Nursing Council. One has to come to nursing profession after passing SSC and HSC from science department. But they are not abiding by these set rules."

"According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council Act 2017, the Bangladesh Nursing and Midwifery Council (BNMC) has the sole authority to register foreign nursing students residing in Bangladesh. BNMC-recognised nursing education has no relation with TEB's four-year long patient care technology course," he added.

The nursing students said according to section 24 of Nursing and Midwifery Council Act, it is a criminal offense to conduct nursing course in any institution without the approval of the Nursing Council. According to the law, no person can identify himself as a nurse without the registration of the Nursing Council. Terming the students who completed patient care technology course as nurses is also a clear violation of this law.

The country's nursing community rejects the decision to register them as nurses, they said.

In the face of the movement of nurses, on 10 February, 2020, the Nursing and Technology course was canceled by the Technical Education Board. However, on 17 January this year, the health ministry decided to register the students of Diploma in Patient Care Technology course as nurses.