Nurses may get higher allowances
KUALA LUMPUR - Faced with a critical shortage of nurses, Malaysia is considering increasing allowances in a bid to attract more people to the job.
About 4,000 of the country's 27,000 nurses retire annually while only 2,500 new graduates a year are coming through, Deputy Health Minister Abdul Latif Ahmad told a nursing-college audience. The imbalance could cause problems if comprehensive plans are not put in place.
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Besides the option of increasing allowances, the government has allocated RM140 million (S$63.5 million) to upgrade facilities such as hostels and lecture halls at nursing schools.
Yet another measure is allowing foreign students to take up nursing courses and to serve here upon graduation, he said at the Seremban Nursing College.
'We will also consider taking in foreign nurses. However, this will only be a last resort.'
The country could be turned into a teaching and training centre for foreign nurses but an in-depth study is needed, he added. -- New Straits Tim
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