Telangana Nurses Association urges government to adopt gender-inclusive scrubs

The Telangana Nurses Association (TNA) has urged the State government to introduce a modern, gender-inclusive scrubs for all government nursing officers by amending the existing dress code, stating that the change would better reflect contemporary healthcare practices without imposing any additional financial burden on the exchequer.

The demand comes after a statewide online survey conducted by the association found that 2,576 of the 2,637 Government Nursing Officers who participated, or 97.7%, supported revising the existing uniform dress code and replacing it with modern scrub uniforms. Only 61 respondents (2.3%) favoured retaining the current uniform.

According to the association, the survey received responses from 2,105 women (79.8%) and 532 men (20.2%). Department-wise, 1,514 participants were from the Directorate of Medical Education (DME), 650 from the Directorate of Public Health (DPH), 316 from the Telangana Vaidya Vidhana Parishad (TVVP), while the remaining respondents were from other government healthcare institutions.

“Young nursing officers believe that government nurses deserve a professional, comfortable and internationally accepted uniform comparable to those used in corporate hospitals,” the association said.

The association also pointed out that a Government Order (GO) issued by the health department in January 2011 prescribes a uniform dress code for female nursing staff and does not clearly specify a uniform for male nursing officers. Currently, there are around 1,500 male nursing officers serving in government healthcare institutions across Telangana.

The association urged the government to amend the existing order and implement the revised dress code at the earliest.