Int'l shortage sees Chinese nurses in high demand

In the near future, maybe as soon as September, elderly people in Germany will be treated by the first batch of foreign nurses sent from China, greeting them in German with a Chinese accent.

German labor authorities and the Chinese Ministry of Commerce signed an agreement at the end of last year to send about 150 Chinese nurses to work in German care homes, aiming to help plug a shortfall of medical personnel in the country.

"It is an exception to our usual recruitment as our partner in such a specific field this time, China, is not a European country," said Beate Raabe, press officer of the Federal Employment Agency, the largest service provider in the German labor market.

No nurses on call

A shortage of nurses is a global problem. Countries like the US, Britain and Austria have been recruiting nurses from lower middle-income countries like Vietnam and the Philippines for years to try and plug the gap.

Now they are turning to populous China to try and solve the problem. Su Juan, 28, is one of the 25 nurses currently learning German language and culture at the Shandong International Nurse Training Center.

"Unlike working conditions at home, I believe the experience of working abroad will really broaden my views and expand my knowledge," Su told the Global Times.

The problem is, China itself is lacking millions of nurses to take care of its own growing elderly population. Similar programs seeking to send Chinese nurses abroad have sparked concerns about how to relieve China's nurse shortage.

"I am not that worried," Wang Zhuwen, director of operations at the training center, told the Global Times. "80 percent of nurses sent abroad choose to come back to China eventually, and when they do, they have more opportunities."

Su is no stranger to working abroad. Back in 2008, two years after graduation from Shanxi Medical University, she signed up to be a nurse in Saudi Arabia.

"It wasn't easy for a fresh graduate to find a job. Even if you are lucky enough to get one, the work is very stressful, so why not go abroad?" she asked.

After a few months of language training, Su and some 12 other Chinese nurses were sent to work in Almana General Hospital. The nurses soon began noticing the differences.

"Those who had only ever worked in Chinese hospitals said it was like heaven to them," Su said. "The work was comparatively relaxing and it was more interesting to work with people from around the world."

China's doctor-to-nurse ratio was at 1 to 1.16 in 2010, below the World Bank's proposed standard of above 1 to 2 on average, according to Guo Yanhong, vice director of the ministry's medical administration division.

Poor conditions

Low pay is another reason forcing qualified nurses to leave China. In Saudi Arabia, Su earned about 4,500 yuan ($722) a month, far higher than her classmates who made a starting salary of about 2,000 yuan at home.

Now her next destination is Germany. After eight months of studying the language and culture, she will be working in a less stressful environment while earning 2,400 euros ($3,171) a month.

"We often hear stories about those who work abroad being able to feed their whole family at home," a former nurse at Beijing Hospital, surnamed Wang, told the Global Times. "More importantly, nurses get more respect in foreign countries than in China."

"Usually you need some connections to work in a good hospital," she said. "Why else would nurses from all over the country all be fighting for it?"

Germany reportedly will need 220,000 nurses in the next decade, especially medical personnel specializing in geriatric care, as this is an unpopular specialization among nursing staff. In recent years, the country has turned toward other European countries for help. Now it looks to China.