Shortage of nurses

Shortage of nurses,same old song

I refer to your report “More male nurses soon” (Star April 21).

I welcome deputy Health Minister’s statement that that his Ministry is increasing the intake of male nurses to overcome the acute shortage of nurses. Male nurses have a definite role in the management of patients in hospitals.

What I don’t understand is why there is a perpetual shortage of nurses in the country even after 48 years of independence. This situation is not something new, as the shortage of doctors and nurses have been there even when I joined the medical service 30 years ago. Till today we are still singing the same old song of shortage of doctors and nurses.

These do not seem to have changed although all other aspects of life have considerably. In fact these days we are told there is a shortage of almost every category of staff in almost every department. We are short of doctors, lawyers, engineers, judges, policemen,teachers and even unskilled labourers.

A country with the resources like ours should not experience this acute shortage of nurses if we have taken positive measures to keep them in service. Numerous nurses’ training schools have sprung up all over the country; both in the public and private sector churning out large numbers of nurses yet we are still acutely short of these members of an essential service.

The main reason for this perpetual shortage of nurses is the exodus of many to foreign countries like Suadi Arabia,Kuwait.UAE,Brunei, Singapore and Australia. The vast majority of them are experienced and dedicated and their exit is a great loss to the nation.

In an attempt to compensate we import nurses from other developing countries, who are not only less capable, but also have problems of communication due to language. It is just impossible to understand why the government prefers foreign nurses to our own who are better and well trained.

These nurses are unfairly accused of abandoning for higher remunerations overseas. I am sure the Ministry of Health cannot be so naïve as to seriously believe in such a simplistic reason for the exodus. Many of these nurses have families and children and it is not an easy decision to leave their loved ones behind to go to an unknown far away land just for monetary rewards. In fact it is truly an emotion wrecking experience in most cases in making such a decision.

Most of these nurses leave because of frustrating working environment. The two most important factors that that provide incentive to work are appreciation and reward. These nurses are not appreciated and rewarded appropriately for their services in their own country.

The solution is not difficult but it has to be seen and recognized. Unless we come out of the prevailing denial syndrome, we will continue to sing the same old song for years to come.

Dr.Chris Anthony