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Local firm gears up to grab US nursing jobs

SAJJADUR RAHMAN
A local healthcare professional recruiting firm has set a target to grab at least 10 percent market share of nurses in the US in the next 10 years.
As part of the firm's export plan, the first batch of 20 nurses will sit for US nursing board examination and an English test at the end of this year.
"We will be able to send nurses to the US from early next year," said Shaheen Faruque, president and chief executive officer of Momtaz Memorial Medical Services Bangladesh, a US-Bangladesh partnership.
She said they have been developing and training 20 nurses under a pilot project since 2007. The next batch has already been selected for training, she added.
The US is going through a severe shortage of professional nurses. According to statistics from the /Vnerican Nursing Council, currently the US faces a shortage of 22,000 nurses per year and if the trend continues the figure will reach 80,000 in 2020.
India and the Philippines are currently holding the major share of nurses in the global market.
The two countries sent some 50,000 nurses between 2005 and 2007 to the US. Shaheen said. Of them India alone sent40,000.
In today s globalised world nursing is considered as a highly skilled profession. A nurse can earn $4,000 to $10,000 a month, which a very few professionals can earn.
“There are other potential markets for nurses. Europe, especially the Scandinavian countries, has a huge demand for professional nurses," said Shaheen who is a US citizen and worked there as a doctor for 15 years.
The Middle East can also be a big destination for Bangladeshi nurses, she said.
But Shaheen thinks the business is not so easy and smooth as people think.
There are stringent quality and standard compliance issues.
"At first we will have to gain international quality in nursing education,” she said.
Shaheen said the government has to address three broad issues -- revision of curriculum, incorporation of computer training and introduction of English language courses -- before tapping the export markets.
“We request the government to revise the curriculum for nurses and add courses in line with international standards,” she said.
Knowledge about modern equipment and technology is also
vital, she pointed out.
India and the Philippines have already set stringent educational and regulatory requirements to maintain standards.
Kerala Nursing Institute in India is an international standard organisation that is training nurses and sending them to developed markets, Shaheen said, adding that the Philippines has quality hospitals and clinics to train nurses for sending them abroad.
According to government statistics, there are 53 nursing institutions in Bangladesh and the number of registered nurses is 25,000 against around 55,000
registered doctors.
Over 90 percent of the nurses are diploma degree holders and only 200 nurses with BSc (Bachelor of Science) degree are coming out a year.
"The export market has a comparatively high demand for BSc nurses than diploma degree hold-e r s , " Shaheen said. Internationally, course duration for BSc nursing is four years, but it is 4 years for diploma course in Bangladesh, she added.
She said her firm would go for producing BSc nurses in the next three years.
sajjad@lhedailystar.net