Fact Check: Nurses to be addressed as 'Nursing officers'? Govt debunks fake claims

Recently, social media platforms including WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook were abuzz with posts claiming that all the B.Sc nursing candidates will be addressed as 'Nursing officers'. The post also claimed that the work of nurses will be "almost equal" to MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery).

The Centre has now debunked the fake news. The Press Informational Bureau's fact-check handle said that the Indian Nursing Council had issued no such notification. The Union Health Ministry has also clarified that the viral document is fake.

Claim: A notification proposes equal status for https://t.co/gKIGXRFHYW. nursing candidates, considering them as nursing officers equivalent to MBBS and junior doctors#PIBFactCheck

▶️This Notification is #Fake.

▶️ Indian Nursing Council has not issued this Notification. pic.twitter.com/yADs6zLROP

— PIB Fact Check (@PIBFactCheck)

Indian Nursing Council calls 'fake and fabricated'

The Indian Nursing Council has called the viral notification "fake and fabricated". It said that no such document has been issued by the council and the signatures are also "fake".

"All concerned are being advised to ignore the above fake and fabricated notification and desist from circulating or taking notice of the fake notification in social media circles/other platforms. The Indian Nursing Council is contemplating taking action to identify the persons involved in circulating this fake notification and for prosecuting them appropriately," it said.

The fake document, which stated it was issued by Indian Nursing Council Secretary Lt Col (Dr.) Sarvjeet Kaur, claimed, "To consider Bsc nursing candidates as nursing officers and to consider them as equal to MBBS and to consider them as junior doctors."

"To secure the long pending demands of nursing candidates and to secure their future, some important decisions were taken today after various important meetings which are as follows," claimed the fake notification, debunked by PIB, Health Ministry and Indian Nursing Council. 

"Today all the Bachelor Nursing candidates are given the title of 'Nursing Officer' from our side, in future they will be known by this nameThe work of Bachelor Nursing candidates is almost equal to the work of MBBS candidates. It cannot be denied at all that in future we can think of calling them junior doctors," it claimed.