New destination for Filipino Nurses

Kuwait will soon be recruiting nurses from the Philippines.

Its Ministry of Health has decided to hire hundreds of new nurses from the Philippines, Egypt, and India to fill up vacancies following the transfer of many nurses in Kuwait to Western countries for higher salaries and better benefits, according to a report on Kuwaiti Times.

The report however quoted a senior Filipino nurse who complained that Kuwait’s health ministry has failed to adjust their salaries despite promises way back in 2001. It said Kuwait upgraded the salaries of newly-hired nurses to attract foreign nurses to fill the growing demands of nurses in the Gulf state.

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The Saudi Arabian government expressed interest in hiring about 5,000 Filipino nurses to work in the oil-rich country.

According to Brion, they are starting to advertise the opening to more Filipinos so that they can avail of the program. He also said it is easier for Filipino nurses to be accepted in other western countries once they have worked in Saudi Arabia.

Brion added that in Saudi, a Muslim nurse has an advantage over non-Muslim applicants and they are entitled to additional benefits from the highly-Islamic country.