“Why no male nurses in Army”?: Delhi High Court.

Those eligible males interested in charting out a career in MNS (Military Nursing Services) can ask for no more, with the Delhi High Court taking umbrage on “Why no male nurses in the Indian Army”!

MNS (Military Nursing Services): Current Recruitment Procedure

As per the procedure being currently followed, there is no provision for Male Nurses in the Nursing Wing of the Indian Army. Only female nurses are currently holding the fort in the wing.

MNS (Military Nursing Services) Recruitment: 2017

When it comes to recruitment of male Nurses in the Indian Army, no plausible reason is cited either by the Defense Forces or the Union Defense Ministry. This has led to Delhi High Court to make a landmark observation in the case.

Recruitment of Male Nurses in Indian Army: Union Ministry to file the reply by October 10, 2018.

The Delhi High Court has directed the Union Ministry to file a reply to the core issue “Why no male nurses in the Army?”

Even as the million-dollar question “Why no male nurses in the Indian Army…?” evoked no answer, a bench of Delhi High Court comprising Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued a notice to the Union Ministry of Defense seeking its loco standi on the matter (by October 10, 2018). Acting on a PIL filed by Indian Professional Nurses Association, alleging a blatant ‘discrimination’ in recruitment for the Indian MNS (Military Nursing Services), the Bench observed:

“It is very antiquated, stereotyped. How can you have a nursing branch without any males, especially in the Army” The observation makes a sense against the backdrop of the changing roles of womenfolk, who have stormed the centre stage of power, be it education, police, defense and polity, hitherto a male bastion?
The Delhi High Court described the Indian Army’s practice of recruiting only women in its MNS (Military Nursing Services) as ‘ very antiquated’ and ‘Discriminatory’ and asked the Centre as to why males could not be inducted in that branch of the defense force?”