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Nurses Can Register for 
Employment Exams Online

DUBAI — The shortage of nurses in UAE hospitals is expected to be plugged by a new online recruitment system, health officials said.

While international standards require one nurse for every five patients, UAE hospitals average one nurse for every 10.To fuel recruitment from abroad, the Ministry of Health is now allowing applicants to register for the entry exams online, rather than in person.

“We launched the new registration system on the ministry website six months ago, and we have been getting hundreds of applications everyday,” said Dr Fatima Al Rifaee, Director of the Federal Nursing Department in 
the ministry.

“This is an encouraging sign since the UAE has been hit by a shortfall of nurses for a long time. It is only during the past three years that the country has managed to fill these gaps,” she said.

Although the system allows applicants to register for exams from abroad, the candidate still has to appear to sit for the exam in person. A total of 23,000 nurses and midwives are currently working under the ministry of whom only 25 are men.

Recently, the ministry recruited 242 nurses for the school health departments in Dubai and the Northern Emirates on a war footing to manage H1N1 cases in schools. The online system also aims at reducing burden on the customer service desk at the ministry.

“We had several people enquiring about the exams and the registration process daily,” said Abdullah Nuaimi, Section Head of the Registration and Regulation Department at the ministry. “Introduction of the website has streamlined this procedure,” he added.

Candidates can take a suitable appointment online to register for the exams that take place five times a year except for the midwifery exam that is held once a year. However, registration alone does not make a candidate eligible to sit for the exams. “We have to verify forms, certificates and licences before the nurses are allowed to appear for the exams,” said Nuaimi. The ministry also holds exams for registered nurses and midwives in English while for practical nurses, the exams are held in both English and Arabic.

The officials say despite the huge number of nurses getting registered in the UAE, those actually taking up jobs are a few. “Several countries readily accept UAE-registered nurses, so we are actually a kind of bouncing board,” 
he said.

Low-salary structures, skyrocketing prices of basic commodities and the spiralling cost of housing are some reasons why many nurses opt to leave the UAE and take up jobs in the West. Currently, a UAE national nurse is paid around Dh6,000-7,000, while an expatriate nurse gets Dh 4,000-5,000.

Trends have shown that nurses from the region migrate to the United States and European countries that offer family and immigrant visas.

Of the nurses working in the country, 40 per cent are from India, 30 per cent Filipinos and the remaining 30 per cent are local nurses and those coming from other Arab countries. Local nurses comprise merely 4-7 per cent.

asmaalizain@khaleejtimes.ae