The nursing shortage is widespread and worldwide, primarily because it is poorly paid, considered a lowly job, and many nurses are abused and mistreated. By abuse, I mean that they are subject to sexual harassment, physical violence, and verbal insults. And in many nations, the workloads are generally horrific, kind that make working conditions in the U.S. seem like a trip to Disneyland.

The level of pay, prestige, abuse, etc, do vary by country or even by regions within nations, but they all have one thing in common–whatever they’re doing is not attracting people to the nursing profession, or keeping them at the bedside.

Here’s an interesting story about the situation in India, from the Times of India.:

India, which has 1,597 nursing schools, 833 BSc (nursing) colleges and 97 MSc (nursing) colleges, has a capacity to train 79,850 diploma nurses, 41,650 graduate nurses and 1,940 post-graduate nurses a year.

However, over 20% of this number every year head to foreign shores in search of better pay. Britain’s National Health Service alone recruits over 1,000 Indian nurses annually. Nearly 12,500 of the 33,250 nurses who registered to work in Britain in 2005 had qualified abroad, mostly from India.

India’s nursing advisor T Dileep Kumar says: “States like UP, Bihar, Orissa, MP and Rajasthan are the worst affected by shortage of nurses. Also, for every doctor, there should be three nurses. But at present, the doctor nurse ratio in India is 1:1.5.”

To add to the ministry’s woes, a recent survey published in the Nursing Journal of India found a tremendously low interest among students wanting to take up nursing as a profession. A study of 200 children in Pune who opted for biology in class 12 found only 3.9% interested in nursing as a first priority.

I can’t blame nurses from India going abroad to seek better opportunities, but it is really sad. I would guess that most of them don’t want to leave India, and be separated from their friends and family, but foreign recruiters make them offers that they have trouble turning down. If India would boost salaries and improve working conditions, I’m sure the exodus would shrink. But then, that always circles back to how women are treated within a culture, and how they are valued.

The second part of the equation is for developed nations to solve their own problems without resorting to poaching resources from those who can’t compete with them. While there are not that many Indian nurses being poached to the U.S., recruiters have their eye on India as the “next Philippines.” With an enormous population, India can mass produce nurses for import, and that’s the answer to the prayers of American hospitals who see nurses as commodities to be gotten at the lowest price possible. Things that can be worked to death, and when they’re too worn out to be of use, tossed out the door and replaced.