Government-trained staff go abroad as hospitals face shortages, citing lack of opportunities
KARACHI:
Despite significant public spending on nursing education and training, the majority of nurses trained at government expense in Sindh migrate abroad due to a lack of job opportunities in public hospitals, worsening an already serious shortage in the province’s health system.
According to a survey, the Sindh government spends around Rs 1.6 billion annually on monthly stipends for nursing students enrolled in public and private nursing colleges and schools operating within government hospitals.
Over the five years of nursing training and compulsory work from home, this expenditure amounts to around Rs 8.2 billion. However, due to poor manpower planning and limited number of sanctioned posts, most qualified nurses fail to secure government employment and are forced to seek employment abroad.
Every year, around 1,500 nurses graduate from government nursing institutions in Sindh after completing four years of study and one year of work at home. Among them, only 400 to 500 nurses are integrated into public hospitals, while the remaining majority remain unemployed or leave the country for better-paid jobs and incentives in Gulf countries and Europe. Currently, the Ministry of Health has only 5,000 approved nursing posts across Sindh, despite the increasing number of patients in public hospitals.
Research shows the province’s public hospitals are facing a shortage of nearly 15,000 nurses. On general wards, a single nurse is often responsible for 12 to 15 patients, while intensive care nurses are required to care for more than six patients at a time, which far exceeds recommended standards, raising serious concerns about patient care and safety.
Currently, Sindh has 21 government nursing schools and more than 80 private institutions. Public nursing schools admit between 70 and 80 students per year, while private schools admit around 50 each. Nursing students from both sectors receive a monthly stipend of Rs 30,000 from the Sindh health department. As a result, more than 5,500 nurses graduate every year across the province, costing the government about 1.6 billion rupees per year in stipends alone. Over the entire training cycle, this figure reaches Rs 8.2 billion, but the province continues to lose qualified nurses due to the absence of adequate employment opportunities in the public sector.
Young Nurses Association President Ijaz Kalhori said that government hospitals in Sindh urgently need at least 15,000 additional nurses due to constant pressure from patients. He criticized the unequal ratio of doctors and nurses in public hospitals and said failure to provide jobs to qualified nurses is forcing them to leave Pakistan. He urged the government to ensure employment of trained nurses at public expense.
Meanwhile, Irshad Abbasi, principal of Liaquatabad Nursing College of Sindh government, said that on the directives of Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, evening nursing courses were introduced for the first time in government nursing colleges to address the shortage of qualified nurses in the province.
