Sixty-seven nursing students set a new benchmark yesterday. They graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing Science at the Then India Sanmarga Ikya (TISI) Sangam Institute of Technology College of Nursing and Health Care Education at Civic Centre in Labasa.

“This is the first time in the history 67 nursing students graduated with a degree,” Sangam College of Nursing academic board chairman Amraiya Naidu said.

A total of 112 students graduated which also included 28 in Nursing and 17 in Post Graduate Diploma in Midwifery.

He said when the college was established in 2005 in Labasa they offered Diploma in Nursing only.

“Since then until last year 445 students had graduated with Diploma qualifications and have been absorbed into Ministry of Health and Government services.

“The college upgraded the course to Bachelor of Nursing Science in 2013 and yesterday the first cohort of 67 nurses received their degrees.

“This is history in the making for Fiji and is a great accomplishment by the fledgling Sangam Nursing College,” he said.

“Suffice to say the three-year journey through the degree programme was not easy with no previous record to fall back on for reference but with the collective determination of the staff and students.

“We also had our first group of 28 students enrolled in nursing certificates in response to the request from the Ministry of Health,” Mr Naidu said.

He said the purpose of this new cadre of trainees was to take over the routine hospital ward duties giving more time for registered nurses to attend to professional patient care.

“The feedback from the industry, meaning the hospital, is very positive about the calibre of this group of students and we hope that the ministry will grant approval for the training of more students with that qualification.

“After the graduation today of the fourth batch of 17 students with midwifery qualification we look forward to receiving a new intake from the beginning of 2016 academic year,” he said.

Edited by Manasa Kalouniviti

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