Government-trained staff are going abroad as hospitals face shortages due to lack of opportunities
KARACHI:
Despite large public spending on nursing education, a majority of nurses trained at government expense in Sindh migrate abroad due to a lack of employment opportunities in public hospitals, exacerbating an already severe shortage in the province’s health system.
According to a study, the Sindh government spends about Rs 1.6 billion annually on monthly stipends for nursing students enrolled in public and private nursing schools and schools operating in public hospitals.
Over the five-year duration of nursing education and the compulsory home job, these costs rise to around Rs 8.2 billion. However, due to poor manpower planning and limited sanctioned posts, most of the trained nurses fail to secure government jobs and are forced to look for work abroad.
Every year, about 1,500 nurses graduate from public nursing institutions in Sindh after completing four years of training and a one-year house job. Of these, only 400 to 500 nurses are admitted to public hospitals, while the remaining majority remain unemployed or leave the country for better paying jobs and incentives in Gulf and European nations. Currently, the health department has only 5,000 sanctioned nursing posts in Sindh despite growing patient load in government hospitals.
Research shows that public hospitals in the province are facing a shortage of almost 15,000 nurses. In general wards, a single nurse is often responsible for 12 to 15 patients, while ICU nurses are required to care for more than six patients at a time, well above recommended standards, raising serious concerns about patient care and safety.
At present, Sindh has 21 public nursing schools and over 80 private institutions. Public nursing schools admit 70 to 80 students annually, while private schools admit about 50 students each. Nursing students in both sectors receive a monthly stipend of Rs 30,000 from the Sindh Health Department. As a result, more than 5,500 nurses graduate annually across the province, costing the government alone about Rs 1.6 billion a year in scholarships. During the full training cycle, this figure reaches Rs 8.2 billion, but the province continues to lose trained nurses due to the absence of suitable employment opportunities in the public sector.
Young Nurses Association chairman Ijaz Kalhori said Sindh’s public hospitals urgently require at least 15,000 additional nurses due to constant patient pressure. He criticized the unequal doctor-nurse ratio in public hospitals and said that the failure to provide jobs to trained nurses is forcing them to leave Pakistan. He called on the government to secure employment for nurses trained at public expense.
Meanwhile, Sindh Government Liaquatabad Nursing College Principal Irshad Abbasi said that following the directives of Health Minister Dr. Azra Pechuho, evening nursing courses have been introduced for the first time in government nursing schools to address the shortage of trained nurses in the province.
