Army Nurses Rank, Status and Honour Degraded?

Army nurses not at par with officers’ by Vijay Mohan/ TNS
Chandigarh, May 12, 2011
Holding that the Military Nursing Service (MNS) is an auxiliary force, the Armed Forces Tribunal has ruled that MNS officers cannot be granted parity with Army officers.

Disposing of a bunch of petitions filed by MNS officers seeking a higher pay-band and associated benefits at par with Army officers of equivalent rank, the Tribunal observed that the recruitment process and nature of duties of the MNS and Army officers is different and simply because the MNS officers are being granted ranks and perks admissible to combatant soldiers and officers, the position of MNS officers cannot be elevated to that of regular troops.

The MNS officers contended that making a distinction on the basis of being a combat and non-combat force and thereby placing them in a lower pay-band was discriminatory. They also contended that some other branches like education, postal and JAG were also non-combatant, but were granted higher scales. Observing that it was clear from the Army ordinance that the MNS was an auxiliary force and not the main combat force, the Tribunal ruled that the difference between the two is right from the induction into service and this distinction has been kept in view by the government while fixing their pay-band.

Ruling that it was a “total misnomer” to say that the nursing staff are same in status as the regular combat force, the Tribunal also observed that there would be functional and command difficulties in hospitals. Nurses have to work under the directions of doctors and have to follow their command. Directions given by doctors to persons of the same rank and status may cause difficulty in functioning.
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2011/20110513/nation.htm#8
Army nurses not at par with officers’
Vijay Mohan/ TNS
Related reading
New Delhi, May 12, 2011
The government is planning to recruit 20,000 more armed women personnel in paramilitary forces in the next three years. According to the new plan formulated by the Home Ministry, all paramilitary forces, the CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB and the NSG, will essentially have 5 per cent of their total force strength as women personnel in three to five years and 10 per cent in the subsequent five years. These women will be hired and deployed for general guard duties, patrolling, frisking suspects and other normal policing activities undertaken by their male counterparts. The government also plans to enhance the facilities being offered to women security personnel
Plan to recruit 20,000 women in paramilitary

Defence Secretary A.V. Singh, who chaired the committee which submitted its report in March 2003 said, "The cumulative effect of its implementation will be, we hope, a younger force".
What we have in reality is a top heavy bloated ageing Army Command Chain enhancing and encouraging Corruption and diluting decision making- Ideal for a Defensive Military. Thanks to AV Singh's Vision!
Degradation of Rank and Honour- In footsteps of AV Singh Committee
A military nurse holds rank in his or her respective service the same as other officers. A brand new nurse is commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Military Nursing Service corps they are commissioned in. They work up through the ranks by completing career milestones and through a competitive process called a promotion board. Nurses have a long and remarkable history of serving and aiding the military from the Wars of early history to modern day conflicts. Nurses have served bravely and with great personal sacrifice in and out of uniform. Nursing has contributed to significant strides in improving medical care in the military and in civilian practice. Nurses participate in research, advanced medical care, and technology. But, the thing nurses are best known for is their caring compassionate expertise in treating sick and wounded military personnel.

MNS Officers Pension still not revised

Lt Col Padmini expressing her grievances to our Chief Admin amd Liaison Officer.
AN ANGUISHED MNS OFFICER.
Lt Col Padmini, MNS, called on us at our office and expressed her grievances that MNS officers are given step motherly treatment by MOD and Army HQ.
Full particulars of MNS Officer
Name: Padmini Rank: Lt.Col- MNS No- NR.16974 Qualifying Service: 24.5 years. PPO.No: M/003251/2004
PDA: I.O.B, Panagudi, Tirunelveli Dist, Tamil Nadu.
If her pension is revised as per Annexure- I of CDA Cir 397 it is Rs13932/- which is more beneficial as compared to the Annexure-II A which is only Rs 11800/
For regular Army officers of Lt Col rank, the pension is revised and increased 3 times, whereas the pension of MNS officers is not revised at all, except as indicated vide Annexure-IIA as per CDA Cir 412, where the Minimum of Pay Band is taken and pension arrived, which is for ONE year service only. This is a great injustice towards the MNS Officers which must be redressed immediately.
Aggrieved MNS Officer

Cabinet nod to cadre restructuring of Military Nursing Service

Cabinet nod to cadre restructuring of Military Nursing Service
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, August 26, 2010
Cabinet on Thursday approved the cadre restructuring of the Military Nursing Service (MNS) officers, aiming to reduce stagnation and providing adequate career opportunities to officers. "The decision will reduce stagnation in the various ranks of MNS by increasing the number of select appointments
and will also help in retaining competent and qualified officers in service by providing adequate opportunities for career progression," a government release said.

Under this, the number of vacancies in senior ranks in the service have been increased by the government.

"74 posts of Lieutenant Colonels (time scale) have been upgraded to Lt Col (Select) and above. Now, there will be two Major Generals, 18 Brigadiers, 58 Colonels and 157 Colonels (Select) in MNS," the release said.

After this decision, the number of officers under selection grade has been increased from 161 to 309 in the 3,860 officer-strong cadre to further improve the quality of leadership in the service.

"To retain qualified and trained nursing officers, it was considered necessary to improve promotional avenues at all levels to mitigate the hardship of nursing officers by increasing the number of posts in select grade appointments within the overall strength of cadre," the statement said.

The time scale promotion of MNS officers up to the rank of Lt Cols has also been reviewed; as an officer will become a Captain from Lieutenant after three years of service from existing five years, become Major after eight years and a Lt Col (time scale) in 16 years from the present 20 years.

The qualifying service for Lt Col (Select) rank by the Selection Board has also been revised from the existing 18 years to 14 years. The last cadre review of Military Nursing Service was carried out in 1986.
Cabinet nod to cadre restructuring of Military Nursing Service
Press Trust Of India

SCPC: Indian Military downgrades MNS Pay Band

Dear Colonel,
Let me express my heart felt thanks to you, for publishing the articles submitted by my team members. We the MNS Veterans, have also started a blog, the title is 'Indian Army Military Nursing Service'. The URL is mnscorps.blogspot.com

The reason for starting this forum is to spread awareness among the armed forces personnel about the 'Military Nursing Services' in India as well as abroad. Due to the general lack of understanding about 'army nurses', there is always a reluctance from the authorities side, for any progressive change to our Nursing Services.

Any attempt for the upliftment of the Nursing Services are being projected as an attempt by the Nursing Officers to claim equality with the AMC Doctors. Let me borrow the words of an anonymous reader, "There is no such thing as 'Nurse-Doctor equality'. It exists only in the 'wildest imaginations of some AMC Doctors'. The only real issue is the 'integration of Military Nursing Service as a Corps of regular Army'; not imaginably equating Nurses with the Doctors". It is being made out that the army nurses are plotting to take over the Armed Forces Medical Services. But on our part, we just want to nurse our soldiers and families as we did for the past 121 years; but with a little more pride. Presently, we are nothing but aliens in the Army, being treated as mere scum on which anybody can ride over.

Just one example. The 6th Pay Commission recommended the MNS cadre the same pay band and grade pay as other officers. However, the COAS and CNS had written to the RM to reduce the MNS Officers pay. The govt. had succumbed to their pressure tactics and now we are placed on a lower grade pay and even pay band for certain rank.

There is no one in the Army who is willing to listen to our problems. They all claim that, the Nurses are given Commissioned Officer rank only in the Indian Army, no where else in the world the Nurses are Commissioned Officers! We don't want to prove anybody wrong. Our aim is let everyone knows the truth and the change will come gradually.

I request your help in educating the armed forces personnel about the Nursing Services.
Thank you, with regards
Brig Jasbeer Kaur (Retd)
MNS Blog

Question
Why should Director General Medical Services downgrade the MNS Pay Band which has been recommended by the Sixth Central Pay Commission and approved by the Government? This seems to be an self inflicted injury of the Military Services, the scars of which will remain scathed forever. ESM fighting for Pension Parity and Armed Forces Medical Services cutting their own feet. Let the Armed Forces upgrade not degrade themselves- Ajai Vikram Singh Committee recommendations in reverse gear. A sad commentary indeed!

Retired MNS Officers are ideally suited for manning ECHS Polyclinics
MNS Officers are truly dedicated, technically sound and Nursing professionals. They are the most competent to provide health care for all veterans. I am yet to see a single retired MNS officer employed by ECHS!

Women PBORs in Indian Military

The earliest corps/ service allowed women in Indian Army (or Armed Forces) was Nursing Service. It all started with the formation of Indian Army Nursing Service (IANS) in 1888 [Imperial Nursing Service for India ] The Military Nursing Service (MNS) traces its origins from this IANS. The MNS was constituted in 1943 as an auxiliary force of Army from the elements of Nursing Services then existed, has only Commissioned Ranks (Officers).

Why not to re-designate MNS in to a full-fledged corps of regular army and allow women PBORs as Nurses and Nursing Assistants. Almost every army (US, UK, Pakistan, Singapore, Thailand etc.) has Army Nursing Corps part of its army. Men are also permitted in such Corps as Commissioned Officer Nurses and PBORs. [ Commissioned Officer Nurses and PBORs ]

By maintaining the present promotion policy of MNS Officers (Capt-5 yrs, Maj-12 yrs, Lt Col-20 yrs) or even any higher period; every doctor will be a Lt Col or above (senior in rank to any nurse in wards), by the time he/ she does a specialization and gets posted to a Military Hospital. A possible solution, for our AMC doctors reluctance to serve with or accept equal ranking nurses.

As the Nursing Service was the oldest force to allow women, the Government should reorganize it along lines in which changes had taken place in other Nations and form an Army Nursing Corps. Let the first women PBOR be enrolled in such Army Nursing Corps.
Jasbeer Kaur

Need to to recognise Nursing Service in true perspective

The members of Military Nursing Service (MNS) are of Commissioned rank appointed by a notification in the Gazette of India as Officers of MNS forming part of regular Army (Section 5 Military Nursing Service Ordinance 1943). As they are Officers holding a Commissioned rank, they are Commissioned Officers ranking equally with any other arm/service Officers of same titular rank [Defence Services Regulations (Army) Para 733 (b)]. As other Officers are not addressed as Members of EME or AMC, JAG etc. the increased tendency in the Army to refer the MNS Officers as Members of MNS is inappropriate and misleading.

The sense of fairness of today's Officers has been seriously affected by the propaganda campaign unleashed by few of the AMC Officers or Commissioned Members of AMC (in their own language). The Members have convinced the entire Army and including the supposed to be wise Generals of other arms/ services that the MNS Officers are an out cast and shall be lowered from the Commissioned Officers Status. The proof is the Army Chiefs letter asking to lower the pay scales of MNS Officers. The Army Chief through his letter dated 20 Jun 2008 asked the Cabinet Secretary to lower the pay scales of MNS Officers to ensure patient care in armed forces hospitals!

The army doctors like the army nurses, also does not undergo the Services Selection Board (SSB) interview to test their Officer Like Qualities (OLQs). The doctors, dentists and nurses are given Commission not because of their OLQs, but merely for their professional qualifications. Therefore the army Doctors supposed fears of 'nurses pay adversely affecting the patient care in the long run' should be correctly interpreted as their 'lack of leadership qualities adversely affecting the management of the medical establishments'. Due to their inferiority complexes, many of the doctors after wearing army officers uniform tries to become more officer like than the true Officers and end up being an 'Army Nurse Basher'. They have misplaced notions about officer like qualities. Such army doctors tries to vent their frustrations originated out of their professional inabilities and lack of leadership qualities by pulling down the Army Nurses. The survey conducted by the WHO in 2008, ranked the Indian Army Nurses as the best Nurses in the world.

The USA became the first country in 1901, to constitute the Nursing Services as a Corps of its Army and placed all the Nursing Personnel under it. Now the Army Nurse Corps Officers (Nurses) are considered equally for even Command positions in their Army Medical Service (US Army Nurses routinely Commands Military Medical Establishments and Army Medical Commands). The logic is that, in a system when neither (doctor/nurse) is tested for OLQs, any one who has the requisite leadership abilities should be given the opportunity to Command. A Nurse can be a better Commander than a Doctor, because Command is a test of Leadership. Any army nurse is also equally qualified to perform in leadership positions like the doctors in the army, but both are not tested for OLQs. In India the Command of medical units is a sacred act performed only by the Doctors! Let it remain that way, I don't think any army nurse will demand for such posts due to our "caste- mindedness".

In 1943, the Nursing Services of all the Imperial Forces (Armies of India, Canadian, Australian, South African and including British etc.) had the same status as 'auxiliary force of army'. After the war, all these Countries including Pakistan have formed Army Nurse Corps out of their own Military Nursing Service. The nursing personnel (Nursing Assistants/ Nursing Orderlies) previously part of Army Medical Corps were then transferred to the Nurse Corps for proper management by the professional Nurses. But in the Indian Army the Nursing Assistants are still part of AMC. Many of them are being misused as 'sahayaks' at the AMC Officers houses and Messes, whereas they are meant for assisting the Nurses in the medical units. Almost every country has constituted Army Nurse Corps in their Armies after the WW-II. However, the MNS still continues as an 'auxiliary force of Indian Army'.

The Nurse to Doctor Ratio in Indian Army is 1:2 (3000 nurses and 6000 doctors). The ideal ratio is 4:1 as recommended by the Indian Nursing Council and being followed by Civil Hospitals. Such low ratio of Nurses is being justified by showing the 20000 strong Nursing Assistant tradesmen of AMC, as available for assisting the Nurses. This is theoretically true but practically exists only on paper. The Army manages by making the Nurses to work for 72 hours a week as against the 48 hours in Civil. The minimum hours of work to be performed by the Army personnel in a week are also 48 hours.

The most of the Countries including Pakistan have Army Nurse Corps as part of their Army. In USA the Army Nurse Corps Officers (Nurses) even commands Army Hospitals and Medical Commands. Is the Patient Care in those Army's have been adversely affected due to this? The answer is no. The Indian Army Nurses are the best professionals in this field. The patient care in the Indian Army is better than the Civil. However, the Army's discriminatory attitude to the MNS Officers is going to adversely affect the patient care (if not already affected). It will further erode in the coming years unless immediate corrective steps are taken. The supposedly wise Generals will realize it only post retirement, when there is nobody else to look after them, other than an Army Nurse. Every General like the Deepak Kapoor should get an opportunity to point out to an Army Nurse while lying on a Military Hospital bed, that she is an 'inferior class of Officer as being from an auxiliary force'. He is assured of a good care from her.

The need of the hour is to strengthen the Nursing Services by allowing it to be managed by the professional Nurses. Presently the Nursing Services in Army is managed by the Doctors. We shall follow in the steps of other nations by re designating the Military Nursing Service as a Corps of regular Army. And then transfer all the nursing personnel to the Nursing Corps for proper management of nursing resources. This is the only way the Nursing Services and thereby the Patient Care can be improved in the Indian Army.

Col Mathew Thomas (Retd)
Related: Need to reorganise the Nursing Services by by Brig (Dr) C P Joshi

Indian Army one hundred years ago

Soldiers from the Indian Army in the Royal Pavilion Hospital.
The Indian Army was reorganized by Lord Kitchener while he was commander-in-chief in India (1902-09). Kitchener established an army of 10 divisions (155,000) backed by an internal security force of some 80,000 troops. About a quarter of the infantry and cavalry troops and almost all artillery personnel in the army were British.

Two divisions and a cavalry brigade of the Indian Army was sent to the Western Front in September 1914. Of the 70,000 sent to France, 5,500 were killed and well over 16,000 wounded. As a result of a suggestion made by King George V, the Royal Pavilion in Brighton was converted into a hospital for wounded Indian soldiers. It has been claimed that several soldiers been brought in unconscious, woke up in the Banqueting Room, and thought they had died and were in Paradise.

As well as the Western Front the Indian Army was also sent to Mesopotamia, Gallipoli, Palestine, East Africa and Egypt. By November 1918 the Indian Army contained 573,000 men and more than 1.3 million men served during wartime, of whom about 72,000 men were killed.
Indian Army in WWI: A century ago

Women in the Armed Forces

Military Nursing Service
In 1994 there were 200 women in the armed forces. In the army, which employs women as physicians and nurses, the participation of women is small but growing. The Indian Military Nursing Service was formed in 1926 and has eight nursing schools (five army, two navy, and one air force) and one nursing college in Pune. Bachelor of science graduates are commissioned as lieutenants in the Medical Nursing Service and attached to the various components of the armed forces. Ranks as Brig can be attained by career officers. In the mid 1990s, a small but increasing number of women officers were being assigned to non medical services.

Inter Service Report
15 years later, Indian Army finds women officers soft since they first entered the Indian armed forces as officers on a limited tenure. The forces have now concluded that they are distinctly uncomfortable with the female presence. An inter services report has concluded that female officers don’t quite fit into the military ethos. Women stand accused of routinely seeking preferential treatment like soft postings and frequent leave.

Soft Duties
India's one million strong army has only 1,000 women officers. The government began commissioning women officers just 16 years ago, until then, women were only allowed into the army's medical corps. The first batch of 50 women officers was inducted into the force in 1992. A total of 150 officers are inducted every year and given short service commission, initially for a five-year term which can be extended up to 14 years. Women Officers are assigned to Artillery, Signals, Engineering and Intelligence but they are neither allowed in close combat duties nor to man forward posts.

Pension
Short Service Women Officers Once retired after 14 years are not entitled to a pension. Other benefits remain at par with regular ESM (retirees). Total number of retired woman officers as on date is not known but fair to assume that the numbers are insignificant.

Comments
Woman Officers ideally should command women soldiers. An all- woman Battalion or a Brigade will prove more effective in dealing with Internal Insurgency like in J&K, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. Why is there no recruitment of women soldiers (PBOR)? Why are women discriminated?