THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Nursing Council will provide six crore rupees to the newly starting government colleges to increase nursing facilities in the state. The decision was taken in the council meeting held yesterday.

Each college will get one crore rupees for initial operations. New colleges will be started in Kasaragod, Palakkad, Wayanad and Idukki districts and one batch of additional 100 seats will be started at Nursing College in Thiruvananthapuram. 60 seats each will be allotted in the newly starting nursing colleges.

The government also gave administrative approval to start six new colleges under the autonomous State Institute of Medical Education and Technology (SI-MET). Nursing colleges under SI-MET are being started at Varkala, Neyyattinkara, Taliparamba, Dharmadom, Konni and Nooranad. SI-MET should approach the Kerala Nursing Council for approval, indicating that it has received administrative approval. If approval is obtained from the Kerala Nursing Council, Kerala University of Health Sciences and then the Nursing Council of India should give approval.