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Tim Gardner, director of nursing at Bahrain's American Mission Hospital
"There is an acute shortage of nurses world over and professionals from Asia particularly Philippines and India are in high demand especially in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.
"The reasons are many. In the UK people are drawn away from nursing because it involves somewhat difficult work and there is a rise in the cases of violence from patients. There is also the difference in salaries. After graduating from a nursing school several years of extra experience and training is required before nurses can receive comparable salaries with careers outside the healthcare industry."
Mr Gardner, 49, who has several years of health industry experience in the Middle East, said that cultural issues and lack of specialist expertise have led to the recruitment of Asian nurses. "Bahrain is fortunate to have a good crop of Bahraini and resident expatriate nurses. AMH has Filipino, Indian and Bahraini nurses. The hospital has members of staff who have been with us for five, 10 and 15 years."
"Filipinos are generally attracted to the profession as traditionally it is a profession that ladies preferred to work in. It provides them an opportunity to travel outside their country, gain experience and earn more. This has caused India to dramatically increase salaries of nurses. And Western countries, especially Canada, are known to pay very high salaries for professional nurses."
