Students from Karnataka can practice as nurses in Kerala, says HC

The Kerala High Court has directed the Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council to register students who have completed nursing courses from institutions run by the Karnataka State Association of the Management of Nursing and Allied Health Science Institutions in Karnataka and to permit them to practise as nurses in Kerala, provided their qualifications are included in the Schedule to the Indian Nursing Council Act, 1947.

The direction was issued on Tuesday on a plea filed by the association, which submitted that several students who had completed BSc Nursing courses from nursing colleges in Karnataka were being denied registration in Kerala on the ground that the Indian Nursing Council had not recognised the institutions conducting the BSc Nursing courses in Karnataka. The institutions concerned are members of the petitioner association.

The association contended that the Indian Nursing Council cannot insist on separate recognition of the institutions by the council, as the institutions are duly registered and recognised by the Karnataka State Nursing Council. It further submitted that any nursing degree awarded by a college affiliated to the respective State Nursing Council should be recognised across the country.

While hearing the plea, the High Court termed the action of the Kerala Nurses and Midwives Council — insisting on a recognition or suitability certificate from the Indian Nursing Council for the institutions where the students had pursued their studies — as “illegal and arbitrary.”