Stating that thousands of nurses are leaving the country due to shrinking job opportunities, the sisters, who had gathered in the capital for a national conference, have urged the government to come up with a long-term plan to retain the healthcare professionals in the country itself.

The nurses" representatives raised their issues during the last day of the 12th national nursing conference organized in the capital from May 12 to May 13.

Pramila Dewan, president of Nursing Association of Nepal (NAN), said, “The government doesn"t have any data on the number of nurses in the country.”

“We want the government to create job opportunities for all the nurses who have completed their studies in a bid to stop them from going abroad,” she told Republica.

During the conference, the nurses brought up the issue of having to look after more patients at a time than is prescribed under international practice. As per international nursing care standard, a nurse should take care of only six patients at a time.

The conference is held to address the issues of nurses and auxiliary nurse midwives, who are said to number around more than 40,000 in the country.

Setting up a separate nursing division and appointing nursing representatives in the research council are some of the major demands raised by the NAN.

Quality education was also one of the major issues raised during the conference.

The two-day conference was organized to mark the International Nurses" Day. More than 1,500 representatives from all over the country participated in the conference. The Nepal Nursing Association will hand over the recommendations to the Health Ministry.

source: republica,12 may 2014