Emirati nurses make up just 3% in UAE
Homegrown healthcare numbers to increase to 8% by 2015
Dubai: Only three per cent of the total nursing workforce in the UAE, estimated to be about 23,000-25,000, is Emirati. The figure is expected to reach eight per cent by 2015.
Within the UAE Ministry of Health, which has about 3,000 nurses, the percentage of Emirati nurses will increase from eight to 10-16 per cent.
Ahead of the UAE Nursing and Midwifery Council’s first scientific conference on Thursday, a senior spokesperson from the ministry addressed the two challenges in the nursing field — to increase Emirati nurses and to reduce the shortage of nursing and midwifery personnel.
The latter issue — shortage of registered nurses, is a global one. The demand for registered nurses — both Emirati and expatriate, in the country outstrips the supply.
The conference, held under the patronage of Princess Haya Bint Al Hussain, wife of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and in the presence of Abdul Rahman Mohammad Al Owais, Minister of Health, discussed development of the education strategy and unified standards of practice to increase personnel in nursing.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) report on Nursing and Midwifery Strategic Directions 2011-2015 has mandated countries to strengthen the capacity of nursing and midwifery workforce.
In this, the UAE strives to deal with the shortage of registered nurses and midwives.
The shortage, according to Dr Fatima Al Rifai, Board Secretary and Member of the Council, can be tackled by removing bottlenecks in nursing education, making the profession attractive with healthy work environments and benefits, easing licensing, and increasing federal funding mechanisms to prepare more nurses.
Speaking to Gulf News, she said, “At a strategy level, we recognise contribution of nurses in health care. We are increasing the number of programmes to train nurses and reduce the turnover rate through positive work environment and benefits.”
Dr Amina Al Marzouqi, Chair of the Council’s Emiratisation Committee and Technical Advisor to the Undersecretary at the ministry, told Gulf News, that the Ministry, which has about 3,000 nurses, hopes to increase its current percentage of Emirati nurses from eight to 10-16 per cent, and across the UAE from three to eight per cent by 2015.
“We have education programmes at federal level. In line with the UAE cabinet’s decision, we also have scholarships for Emiratis studying nursing. The challenge is to address education, continuous education for existing nurses, and technological training against the increasing health care demands from the ageing population,” she said.
Dr Amina added that nurses are also in short supply due to high demand from other allied sectors like spas, well-being centres and insurance companies.
Linda Haskins, Deputy Chief Nursing Officer at Shaikh Khalifa Medical City, added, “Through laws and provisions, the image of nursing has to change to attract new nurses.”
