More Indian nurses arrive in Britain by Sanjay Suri, Indo-Asian News Service
London, May 16 (IANS) The number of Indian nurses arriving to work in Britain has shot up 30 times over the past four years, a new report says. The report by the Nursing and Midwifery Council shows that no more than 30 nurses from India arrived to work in Britain in 1998-99. By 2001-02 that number rose to 994. The pace of migration this year is rising more rapidly. The number of applicants from India is far larger. Many more from this pool of applicants could be recruited now as shortages rise. Britain is short of at least 25,000 nurses, according to estimates by the National Health Service. But that number could rise because many American hospitals have begun to recruit nurses from Britain. The demand for nurses has shot up in the U.S. because the country is facing shortages. Nurses get paid a good deal more in the U.S. than they do in Britain. As shortages increase, the number of nurses coming into Britain will rise, the council says. Indian hospitals, already short of nursing staff, could face severe depletion of nursing staff. "Record numbers of people are applying to join the register from overseas, and record numbers are being accepted," the council says. The largest number of applicants came from the Philippines. From 52 nurses in 1998-99, the number rose to 7,235 in 2001-2002. In all, 2,114 nurses came to Britain from South Africa and 1,342 from Australia in 2001-2002. More nurses are coming to Britain from all over the world. A total of 473 came from Zimbabwe, 443 from New Zealand and 432 from Nigeria. Only three nurses came from Pakistan in 1998-99. That number rose to 207 in 2001. In the year ending March 2002, 41,656 nurses and midwives from overseas (non-European Union) countries applied for registration; 43 percent more than in the previous year, the report says. More than 23,000 of these had to undertake a period of supervised practice, while only about 480 were rejected outright. The Philippines and India were the source countries for more than half the applicants. The rise in overseas applications looks set to continue, since the figures also reveal that during 2001-02, the registrations department of the council dealt with around 100,000 applications for information packs and overseas application forms. --Indo-Asian News Service =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
