Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Apr 30, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Apr 30, 2004 |
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Industry & Economy
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Human Resources Opportunities for nurses rise as US reports shortage Vinson Kurian
Thiruvananthapuram , April 29 THE US Department of Health and Human Services has reported that an estimated 2.8 million nurses will be needed in 2020. However, only 20,01,998 are forecast to be available, throwing up a big opportunity to career nurses from India, especially Kerala. The US began to look at India as a source for nurses when the flow from Canada, Ireland and the Philippines dried up. The demand for nurses in the US is growing owing to the steadily increasing number of senior citizens. The UK is also recruiting Indian nurses in large numbers. A recent survey conducted in the US proved that maintaining high standards while managing the changes created by an aging nursing population made worse by the shortage thereof, posed the gravest challenge to healthcare authorities. The average age of a hospital nurse in the US is 45. After years of providing care, this age group is starting to feel the physical stresses of the job. All across the country, nurses are growing older and the supply of new nurses is not enough to fill positions left by retirees and the increasing demand for professional nurses. Scores of American hospitals have put in requests with consulting agencies and nursing schools across India. Thousands of nurses across India are getting trained to take examinations in CGFNS (Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools), TOEFL (Test of English as Foreign Language), TWE (Test of Written English) and TSE (Test of Spoken English). Till sometime back, the healthcare professionals applying for non-immigrant visas enjoyed a waiver from the compulsory English language tests. But now that the US administration has imposed a "VisaScreen" to test what it calls the International English Language Testing System. The relevant law provides that nurses seeking to obtain permanent work visas to the US to work in their profession must obtain the "VisaScreen Certificate" from CGFNS. This certificate attests to: 1) the comparability of the nurse's education and training to that offered in the US (2) ability to speak and write English at an appropriate level, and (3) possession of a currently valid and unencumbered nursing licence. Many of the nurses who have passed these tests are on their way to the US while a number of nursing colleges in India are tying up with hospital groups in America for supplying nurses. The CGFNS exams are administered in 40 countries worldwide in March, July and November. CGFNS received approval from the Indian Government to administer its exam in India in 2001. The first exam in India was given at Bangalore on March 13, 2002. Currently, Bangalore and Kochi are the only two Indian centres for the CGFNS programme. Indian nurses working in the US are paid on a par with their American counterparts, meaning they take home around $3,000 (around Rs 1.33 lakh) plus a month.
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