Nirmala Sitharaman encourages nursing students to learn local language to serve better

KANCHEEPURAM: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday appealed to students keen to take up nursing as a profession to learn the local language wherever they get an opportunity to serve. Globally, there has been a huge demand for Indian nurses and learning a language irrespective of the country, would offer its benefits, she said at an event here. Detailing how Indian nurses are valued overseas, Sitharaman recalled her visit to Singapore ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting with his counterpart in that country.

"About four cabinet ministers went there before the prime minister's visit and during our interaction with the Singapore prime minister, it was very much visible how much significance was given to Indian medicine, nurses and physiotherapists," she said after inaugurating the Sankara College of Nursing (Women) here.

Sitharaman said the Centre was giving importance to the medical sector and encouraging more youngsters to take up courses in nursing. "Our government is giving importance to the medical sector as well. We are concentrating more on the nursing courses and encouraging the youth to join this course," she said.

Sitharaman further said about 800 nurses from India, whether they may hail from Tamil Nadu or Assam, have gone to Singapore to serve there in the last two-three years. "This not only pertains to Singapore. This (requirement for Indian nursing professionals) is seen in Japan, Europe and with the elderly population less in number in these countries, there is a requirement for Indian nurses and those who can give home care," she said.

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Significance of nursing course

The governments in those countries are ready to recruit Indian nurses, she said. "It is, therefore, nursing colleges assume significance and if proper training is given (for the students), there is a big opportunity to get recruited overseas," she said. The only requirement for those who are keen to work overseas is to learn the local language, she said. "How we expect someone hailing from another country to speak in Tamil when they are in Tamil Nadu, in the same way, when we are planning to work in Japan, we should learn Japanese", she said.

She added that learning the local language not only refers to overseas, but even a student gets an opportunity to work as a nurse in North India, "There is a necessity to learn the local language. You may be required to speak in Punjabi or Bengali. I am not saying you to forget your mother tongue. It is better to learn the local language (in addition to the mother tongue) when you are going to work somewhere," she stressed.

She advised students to learn language courses through digital medium after college hours, so that they would be able to communicate effectively when they are posted to work as a nurse. Sitharaman observed that the Centre was giving huge importance to medicine and recently the Cabinet also gave its nod to the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana scheme which offers free health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh, to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their income.