The State Government on Wednesday announced enhancement of the monthly stipends of nursing, pharmacy, and allied medical students.

"Considering the request of the students of Nursing, Pharmacy and Allied Medical students for enhancement of their stipend, and taking into account the importance of services being rendered by them, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has approved enhancement of stipend amount in favour of the students," said a Chief Minister's Office (CMO) release. 

After the enhancement, D Pharma students would now get a monthly stipend of Rs 500, ANM Rs 2, 000, B Sc (N) Rs 50,00 for an internship while M. Phil in Clinical Psychology and M.Phil in Psychiatric Social Work would get Rs 10,000. 

These students were earlier provided with a stipend amount per month of Rs.250 for D Pharma, Rs1,000 for ANM, Rs 2,500 for B Sc(N) internship, Rs 7,000 for M Phil in Clinical Psychology and Rs7,000 for M Phil in Psychiatric Social Work.

"The Chief Minister has expected that this enhancement would encourage students to extend better services to the people. This would further strengthen health services in Odisha, he has hoped," the CMO statement added. 

Notably, the Health and Family Welfare Department is running different Degree and Diploma courses such as B Sc in Nursing, Auxiliary Nursing and Midwifery (ANM) course, Diploma in Pharmacy, M Phil in Clinical Psychology and M Phil in Psychiatric Social Work in Government institutions.

The government provides stipends to students of these courses for the period of their education during which they also provide clinical services at health institutions.