Tracking nursing: On the Nurses Registration and Tracking System

The Nurses Registration and Tracking System (NRTS), established over seven years ago, has registered less than a third of India's total nurses, leaving millions outside the national system. This low enrollment is attributed to issues of jurisdiction and federal tension, with State Nursing Registration Councils resisting full migration to the central portal and continuing parallel systems. This fragmentation leads to delays in inter-State transfers and overseas employment verification for nurses, and for the nation, it results in inaccurate data on healthcare human resources, inefficient deployment, and compromised patient safety, especially during public health emergencies.