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Nursing high hopes
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The Gulf is no longer the favourite destination for nurses. The West beckons, reports DEBARSHI DASGUPTA.
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A nurse can earn as much as Rs. 1 lakh a month in the West. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash
SHE IS looking for a big leap in her career. She wants to cross the Atlantic. Having worked for eight years in Saudi Arabia with Aramco, the American oil company, she now wants to make it big in the U.S. and even take her family there. Cynthia Kennedy is a nurse who has "always loved challenges in life." "Before I went to Saudi Arabia, there were many people who asked me not to go there." And she ignored them.
Now in Bangalore, she has enrolled herself at Nurses Anytime, a Dallas-based company that specialises in recruiting Indian nurses for the U.S. And hard work is her only passport to success.
Cynthia is not alone. Many more like her are queuing up at Bangalore's agencies that have begun recruiting nurses for the West. They are encouraged by fat pay packets there and discouraged, among other things, by a lack of respect for the profession here. The usual destinations in the Gulf, such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, or in Africa, such as Zambia, are no longer attractive. A nurse can earn as much as Rs. 1 lakh a month in the West, much more than what she can probably earn here in a year. And the lifestyle there is not restricted, like in the Gulf.
Because of poor pay structure by their standards and overwhelming workload, hospitals in the West find it difficult to recruit nurses locally. The Health Resources and Services Administration, a wing of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has predicted that by 2020 there would be a shortage of nearly 750,000 nurses in America. And Indians want to step in to fill the gap. After the Philippines, India today exports the largest number of nurses to the U.S. Estimates put their number at around 15 per cent of the total nursing workforce there.
"Nurses from India are the only Indian professionals who at the moment can get the Green Card and other immediate facilities," says Radhika Manne, the director of smartnurse.net, a placement agency.
Things are looking brighter even in the U.K. market. Figures released recently by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in Britain found that 1,800 Indian nurses, a record number, were signed up by the National Health Service last year.
"First, it was the IT sector that peaked, then came the call centre industry. Now it is time for the nursing business to boom," says Shubha R., marketing director at Nurses Anytime.
In the bargain, Bangalore has emerged as the main destination for foreign firms scouting for nurses. "This is because of the large number of multi-speciality hospitals coming up in the City," says Vijayashree R. Revankar, consultant, Health Careers Overseas at Y Axis, another firm that helps nurses find jobs abroad. There are seven such firms in the City.
Bangalore is also one of the few centres worldwide where the Commission of Graduates for Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) examination is held. It is an international examination that ensures that all nurses employed in the U.S. are qualified to practise and meet the required professional standards.
Not unexpectedly, this has also led to a boom in the nursing education sector. Around 30,000 graduate every year from nursing schools and colleges in India. Bangalore district has around 50 such institutions, more than any other city in the country. Many students pour in from neighbouring States, mainly Kerala. Asked what might be the special qualities of Indian nurses, Elizabeth Zachariah, the principal of Florence School of Nursing, replies that they are dedicated and hardworking. "Moreover, they are adaptable and do not lose their temper easily." Ms. Zachariah was a nurse in Zambia for 15 years before she returned home for good.
"Here the nurses are overworked without commensurate salary and there is no conducive environment to work in," Ms. Zachariah says. "Whereas abroad, the salaries are higher and the hospitals are well-quipped, with flexible working hours."
Many nurses complain that they are not treated with respect here. They cite this as one of the main reasons for seeking greener pastures. "In India, nursing is not considered a noble profession but it is not so in the U.S.," says M. Sabina Vincent, from Neyveli in Tamil Nadu and an alumna of St. Philomena's School of Nursing here. "Nursing is not just changing the sheets of a patient. It is much more."
She graduated in 1999 and worked at the St. Philomena's Hospital for two- and-a-half years. "Many of the doctors who work with us do not trust us," she adds. "They think our knowledge is not good enough to take care of patients, no matter how much we study." But why did she decide being a nurse in the first place despite the brickbats? "As a child, I always liked the dress nurses wore," she replies. Ms. Vincent has cleared the CGFNS and TOEFL exams and is now preparing for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) at smartnurse.net. She wants to move to the U.S. and return to India with specialised knowledge to help her fraternity. Apart from the CGFNS examination, it is mandatory for Indian nurses to take English language examinations _TOEFL or IELTS _ if they want to apply abroad. But they do not pay for any of the expenses involved. The agencies coach them and foot their bills till they reach the U.S. The agencies, in return, receive a commission from the hospital each time a nurse is recruited. The nurses have to go through stringent tests, for which they pay a nominal fee, before enrolling themselves in these agencies. "We have to filter the good candidates," says Radhika Manne, to avoid any probable losses. Agencies sometimes spend as much as $5,000 on each nurse and the returns may vary from $8,000 to $12,000.
"A lot of investment is involved. Many agencies mushroomed but were forced to shut down," Ms. Manne adds. "We are still in the investment phase and have to wait for another year-and-a-half for returns."
But the nurses are surely upbeat for it is a win-win situation for them. "The good part about working in the U.S. is that our good work is recognised," says Ms. Vincent. "It will be a challenging opportunity for me."
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