The Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council is an Autonomous Statutory Registration Body for registering qualified Nurses, Midwives, Auxiliary-Nurse-Midwives/ Multipurpose Health Workers/ Health Visitors as per the provision in the Act.The Madras Nurses and Midwives Act No.III of 1926 was passed in the Madras Legislative Council of Madras in 1926 followed by Notification in the Fort St. George Gazette on 29th June 1926 and came into force on 14th February 1928.The Madras Nurses and Midwives Council was constituted under the authority of the above Act by a notification by the Governor on 14th December 1928. This Council is the earliest piece of Legislation on Nursing in the whole of South-East Asia aiming at the advancement of Nursing Education and champion the cause of the nursing profession.The Madras Nurses and Midwives Act No.III of 1926" was renamed as the "Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives (Amendment) Act No.XXVI" of 1960 on 14th December 1960.The rules and regulations framed thereunder have been amended on several occasions to suit the rapid changes in science and technologies.
A vital legislation for control of Nurses, Midwives and Dhais who were carrying on unlicensed practice of their profession in the Presidency of Madras was introduced in the Madras Legislative Assembly in 1926 and passed as Act III of 1926. It may reasonably be thought that this legislation could have been passed 14 years earlier when the Medical Registration Act of 1914 was passed. However, it is the first of its kind in India and Madras can take pride in the fact that it is the premier. Presidency of India to get the enviable honour of having a Statutory Council entrusted with the task of opening the First Register's of Nurses and Midwives and admitting thereto trained and untrained persons practicing their profession as Nurses and/or as Midwives in the Madras Presidency.
The term Presidency then connected the composite Madras State which included the present States of Tamil Nadu, Andhrapradesh and Kerala (excluding the Indian State of Travancore and Cochin) As provided in Sub-section (1) of Section 1 of the Act, A Council called the Madras Nurses and Midwives Council was then formed. The Assent of the British Government, a vital legislation for regulating the Nursing training and practice was passed by the Legislature was made on 7th May 1926 and signed by the Governor General on the 9th June 1926. The same was published in Fort St. George Gazette on the 29th June 1926. The Madras Nurses and Midwives Act III of 1926 came into force on the 14th day of February 1928.