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Journalism of Courage
PUNE, Sept 20: The nursing advisor to the Government of India, T Dileep Kumar, on Saturday day stressed that inadequate income, education and housing coupled with contaminated water supply ensure nutritional deficiency in our country, to the extent that almost half the children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition.
He was delivering the keynote address on `Nutritional disorders – an overview’ at the national nursing update held today on `Nutritional disorders’ at the Armed Forces Medical College. Blaming nutritional problems on poverty, Kumar called for health surveillance systems to collect systematic data on food availability, dietary uptake and the nutritional status of the general population and of targeted high risk groups to establish a rational foundation for development of public policies in education, services and research.
In her address, College of Nursing principal Col. Shashi Bala emphasised the vital role of nurses in meeting the nutritional needs of patients and the need for them to keep abreast with the latest technological advances for effective delivery of quality patient care. “Nurses, being members of the health care team, require current scientific information as they are closely associated with patient care, in the hospital as well as in the community, specifically to combat nutritional inadequacies,” she said.
To coincide with the update a scientific exhibition on the theme `Nutrition from womb to tomb’ was orgaised by the students of the College of Nursing. A commercial exhibition related to the field of nutrition was displayed at the venue.
The update was inaugurated by Armed Forces Medical College Commandant Lt. Gen. B.B. Dutta. The valedictory session was conducted at the Bharadwaja Auditorium of AFMC. Additional Director General Military Nuring Service Maj. Gen. S Padminiamma gave away the awards, prizes and certificates to the participants. She released a souvenir to mark the occasion.
