 | « Back to article | Print this article |
"Every year an average of 1,000 Indian nurses make to the US to fill in this critical demand," Radhika Manne, managing director, Smart Nurse Private Ltd., whose company has so far sent 32 nurses to the US since 2001, said.
Attributing the shortage of nurses to few students taking up nursing as a profession due to long and strenuous hours of work as well as the growing number of retiring nurses, she said the situation had resulted in overcrowding in emergency department and increased waiting times for surgeries.
Indian nurses were in great demand in the US, because of their skills and expertise, she said. "They could easily fit into any situation, adapt to any work culture, are ready to work for long hours and strongly driven by the service motto which made them largerly preferred in the US", she said.
The only hindrance faced by the Indian nurses was that though they possessed expertise, many were unable to get through the International English Language Testing Service, a mandatory one for anyone wishing to work in the US.
However, organisations like Smart Nurse were working towards training the nursing aspirants to clear the examination by offering them intensive training in English as well the other qualifying professional exams organised by the CGFN (Commission on Graduates for foreign nursing schools, testing system) and the National Council Licensure examination for Registered nurses, she said.
Talking about exams such as CGFNS, NCLEX and IELTs needed to be taken to get a nursing job in the US, Manne said the exams were held across the world on a single day at 40 places. In India they were held in Bangalore, Kochi and recently Delhi and Mumbai have also been made examination centres.
Around 6,000 nursing aspirants sit for the CGFN exam every month, out which the passing percentage was just 15 to 20. But there was no bar on the number or re-attempts nor on the maximum age limit. "We have nurses in their fifties approaching us for prospects in US", she added.
That is because unlike India where nurses largely earn a low salary, in the US a nurse earns around 30 dollars an hour, she said adding the aspirants mainly hail from Kerala, where nursing was a popular profession compared to other states.
There are currently around 10 players in the field involved in the recruitment and training of nurses for the US, Manne said claiming that her organisation had tied up with some leading hospitals in the US to hire nurses.
The organisation handles everything from training assisting in various legal formalities and employment to accommodation. The total investment on a single nurse could be anywhere from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, she said.
"Our company does not charge a single penny for the service. We are paid by the US hospitals for providing fresh recruits", she said. On the come back rate of the nurses going to the US, she said it was "almost nil" unlike other professions.
Besides India, the Phillipines and China also send in a high number of nurses with the Phillipines scoring highest on the front, she said.