Support for call to bring in foreign nurses

I REFER to the report “Foreign nurses not best remedy” (The Star, April 10). The Health Ministry has projected a critical shortage of nurses – or a 60% deficit – by 2030. There has been a call to hire foreign nurses to address this deficit, but there are objections from some quarters.

Datin Dr Aishah Ali, a member of the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia (Imam), was quoted as saying: “Malaysia is currently short of 6,000 nurses, and according to a 2024 survey, nurse turnover reached a catastrophic rate of 27.1% in 2021.”

“This is a healthcare crisis in the making,” she added.

Money is a powerful weapon, and many, including medical professionals, are attracted by this magnet to greener pastures abroad rather than a genuine calling for the profession.

Many of our nurses have opted for the United States, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and Singapore.

For example, in Singapore and the Middle East, Malaysian nurses can earn up to RM20,000 – tax-free, with free housing and transport.

I support the recruitment of qualified foreign nurses to our country on a contract basis as a stop-gap measure until we can train our own citizens to fill the deficit.

However, certain quarters argue that language and cultural differences are big hindrances in the recruitment of foreign nurses.

For instance, Dr Aishah said: “In Malaysia, nurses must be fluent in Malay. If a foreign nurse cannot communicate in the local language, a third person is required to assist during patient care, which is neither cost-effective nor efficient.”

Foreign nurses need not be super-fluent in Malay but should more or less equate to the standard of language competency of the average Malaysian patient.

India is ready to allow qualified nurses to be recruited for duty in our country on a contract basis. Culturally, Indian nurses are close to Malaysians and could blend imperceptibly within our society. Indian nurses can speak English and Tamil fairly well. As for Malay, they can be trained during a crash course of, say, three months in the nuances that are relevant to the nursing profession.

And we should pay them well and provide a conducive working environment.

We cannot and must not allow these drawbacks to compromise the quality of patient care in the country. The shortage of nurses has reached a critical phase, and we have to address this problem on an urgent basis.

As the saying goes, “don’t cut off your nose to spite your face”.

DR A. SOORIAN

Seremban