Click to play videoKochi: Like thousands of nurses in Kerala, Hema Shantha Mary, too, wants to make it big in the US. But if US President Barack Obama's policy on employing nurses materialises, the road ahead is a dead end.
“I have finished my BSC nursing and other exams and am waiting for my visa. One of my dreams is to work in the US as the country offers huge remuneration and a good standard of life. But Obama's announcement has indeed disappointed me and many other nurses,” Hema Shantha Mary said.
Close to 3,000 nurses pass out of the various nursing institutes across the state and if the US, the most preferred destination for these nurses, stops recruiting nurses from India, recruitment agencies will be badly hit.
“There are thousands who have reached America through our agencies and then there are thousands who are waiting in the wings. This decision is quite a shock for many here who have spent their valuable time trying to go to the US,” president of a nursing academy Henry Joseph said.
America will need over 50,000 nurses to meet the shortage. Perhaps the best hope the nursing community in Kerala has is that unlike in the BPO industry, the US cannot immediately replace skilled professionals like nurses.
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