Former President late Dr. A P J Abul Kalam gave a call to follow the Philippines model of nursing and allow Indian nurses to practice Medicine in rural Primary Healthcare Centres

Dr. Kalam also asked the Indian Nursing Council to review nursing courses continuously in order to bring them at par with the rapid advancement in healthcare system and suggested combined class for nursing and medical students. He said that nurses need to be equipped with superspeciality courses like doctor.Extend your role to facilitate preventive medicine by educating patients and relatives to lead a better life, he advised. A man of science himself, Dr. Kalam was all for the inclusion of technology in nursing. In 21st century,

nurses have to be technologically sound in order to be able to complement super-speciality doctors, said Kalam asking the nurses to blend care with technology and knowledge.

Advising nurses to take inspiration from the founder of modern nursing profession , Florence Nightingale, Dr. Kalam asked each nurse to serve at least 20 patients in the rural areas. The former president added that in order to be able to do this, it was necessary for nurses to equip themselves with higher education and specialized degrees.