The Odisha government on Wednesday announced the enhancement of the monthly stipend of nursing, pharmacy, and allied medical students.
"Considering the request of the students of Nursing, Pharmacy and Allied Medical Students for enhancement of their stipend, and taking into account the importance of services being rendered by them, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has approved enhancement of stipend amount in favour of the students," read a statement released by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
After the enhancement, D.Pharma students will now get a monthly stipend of Rs 500, ANM Rs 2000, B.Sc (N) Rs 5000 for an internship while M. Phil in Clinical Psychology and M.Phil in Psychiatric Social Work will get Rs 10,000.
These students were earlier provided with a stipend amount per month @ Rs.250/- for D.Pharma, Rs.1000/- for ANM, Rs.2500/- for B. Sc(N) internship, Rs.7000/- for M. Phil in Clinical Psychology and Rs.7000/- for M.Phil in Psychiatric Social Work.
"The Chief Minister has expected that this enhancement will encourage students to extend better services to the people. This will further strengthen health services in Odisha, he has hoped," the CMO statement added.
It may be mentioned here that the Odisha Health & FW Department is running different Degree and Diploma Courses such as B.Sc. in Nursing, Auxiliary Nursing & Midwifery (ANM) course, Diploma in Pharmacy, M.Phil in Clinical Psychology and M.Phil in Psychiatric Social Work in Government institutions.
The Government provides stipends to students of these courses for the period of their education during which they also provide clinical services at health institutions.