2.4 million more nurses required in the country : FICCI- EY Report

"Nurses have a direct influence and role in determining the quality of care that is rendered to a patient. We need to make a concerted efforts to ensure that this capability is recognized and rewarded in order to attract and retain qualified nursing professionals.

"A crucial segment of human resources in the health sector, there needs to be a focus on improving the participation of these professionals in the policy and decision making process, and special emphasis placed on their training and development in line with evolving technologies in healthcare," said Vineet Chhatwal, Partner, EY India.

Of the 30 recommendations the report ends with, revision of the Indian Nursing Act, 1947, to make it more in tune with contemporary healthcare; and an even distribution of nursing training programmes, are two major recommendations which seeks to address the skewed demand supply ratio.

It also points out that 52 percent of the total nurse training facilities are located in south India.