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| Friday, 28 January 2005 |
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Politics | |
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| Bid to end shortage: 15,000 nightingales in next three years by Bharatha Malawaraarachchi In a bid to resolve the existing shortage of Government hospital nurses, the Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has decided on a massive recruitment drive which seeks to recruit 5,000 nurses each year for the next three years. This follows instructions issued by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva to officials to expedite the recruitment process to further strengthen the health service. At present, there is a shortage of 13,000 nurses. "At least 30,000 nurses are required to maintain a satisfactory health service while at present there are only 17,000 nurses and we need to recruit another 13,000 to bridge the shortfall," a senior Ministry official said. He said accordingly, the Ministry had drawn up plans to implement a mass scale recruitment drive starting this year. "Under this scheme 5,000 nurses will be recruited each year and the scheme will be extended to cover a three year period," he added. Minister de Silva plans to deploy these newly recruited nurses in tsunami affected areas to rebuild the health services in those areas. The Ministry is now making arrangements to enable nurses and those engaged in the para-medical professions to pursue postgraduate courses and further their higher education in their chosen fields. Already, Minister de Silva has held discussions with the University Grants Commission (UGC) in this regard. They have expressed willingness to commence post graduate courses for nurses and para-medics. Apart from this, Minister de Silva had also discussed with several foreign universities to enable nurses and para-medics to pursue further higher studies such as MSc in their selected fields. The Ministry plans to upgrade abandoned schools located close to teaching hospitals to conduct these courses as there are no adequate facilities and human resources at existing universities. |
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