The Chemmanur Group of Kerala has tied-up with Bangalore based Nurses Anytime to set up training centres in Kerala, Mangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Dubai where a large number of students are opting for nursing. There will be six additional training centres in Kerala under this arrangement apart from the recently set up facility at Kochi where the training will commence in March 2003.

This move is in the wake of huge demand for Indian nurses from the hospitals in the US and other developed countries. Nurse Anytime in association with Dallas based Nurse Finders has been on a major recruitment drive for Indian nurses in India. In the last 12-14 months, Nurses Anytime has recruited 110 nurses who have received benefits like free immigration, free airfare, free temporary housing, free CGFNS (Commission for Graduate of Foreign Nursing Schools) review- home study kit or in-house review, exam fees reimbursements, health care benefits and Green Card guarantee.

Dr. Vijay Madala, managing partner Nurses Anytime, told Pharmabiz.com that the best nurses are from CMC Vellore, Father Muller College of Nursing in Mangalore and CMC Ludhiana.

At Nurses Anytime out of the total 3,000 nurses who apply for jobs in the US, only 20 per cent qualify. The main degree for qualifying aboard is the CGFNS. Nurses Anytime is holding the course thrice a year in Bangalore in March, July and December, which is both intensive and comprehensive.

The course is conducted for 50 nurses in a batch after which they are selected for an intensive four-month training. The classes are free of cost. For each nurse to take off to the US, the recruitment agency Nurses Anytime, spends Rs five lakh each with a two-year condition from the nurses opting to work abroad in the hospital they have been selected for employment.

The 30,000 hospitals in the US need 40,000 nurses. Nurses from India and Philippines are preferred as they have sound English knowledge.

The nurses are paid $20-$25 per hour and senior nurses earn up to $80,000 to $1,00,000 annually. The salary structures of the nurses are in the top seven pay packet bracket in the US. The ratio of male to female nurses who have been recruited to the US so far is 1:50.

The main reason for the demand for nurses abroad is that in the US the number of candidates taking up nursing courses and jobs is on the decline. US has also a large geriatric population who need nurses to take care of them.

The US government authorises the CGFNC to conduct the NCLEX (National Council Licensing Examination) where students who have completed GNM (general nursing and midwifery), which is a three and a half year course or BSc in Nursing can take up the programme. Nurses need a year to take off to the US.

Dr. Madala is of the view that the demand for certain professions is high at certain phases in US. Right now requirement for information technology professionals are on the decline and nurses seems to be prime focus of US employment scene.

Right now there is a demand for 2,00,000 nurses worldwide and 20,000 vacancies will increase each year and the scene is expected to remain unchanged for the next 20 years, opined Dr. Madala.

This year around 3,000 nurses applied at Nurses Anytime and after the internal assessment only 20 per cent qualified. A large number of nurses do not qualify in the assessment as their English skills are poor and they are not well read. The main reason for opting for US job is that pay scales at home are low for the time they spend in hospitals and the foreign jobs allow them to own a house and a car out there, pointed out Dr. Madala.

Nurse Finders has 300 US offices. Back in the US the nursing professionals are highly sought after.

It is the right time for nurses to take off to the US. Even if India loses out on skilled nurses the country gains massive foreign exchange as the selected nurses once they commence work they will send money to their families here in India, informed Dr. Madala.

Hospitals in Bangalore informed that there is a high turnover in the nursing professionals but none of the medical care facilities will face a shortage as there are many who prefer this profession still in India.