Saudi Arabia: Ways discussed to overcome nurse shortage |
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JEDDAH: Realizing the shortage of nurses in the region, the founders of the Gulf Health Club for Nursing stressed the need for cooperation among GCC states and discussed plans to expand their activities to enrich the nursing profession.
Speaking at the second meeting of the club on Thursday, Dr. Tawfik Khoja, honorary president of the club and the director general of the Executive Board of the Council of Health Ministers of GCC states, said that some people in the Gulf region took the initiative in April 2008 to establish a body which "can bring all nurses in the GCC together in order to improve the quality of nursing care."
One out of four nurses in the Kingdom is a Saudi. In Kuwait, the number is lower, at 8 percent. Oman and Bahrain have both implemented aggressive policies to increase the number of local nurses.
The club plans to launch a website within two months and publish a magazine starting January 2009 which will serve as a reference body for research.
Regarding the challenges facing the GCC states in nursing, Khoja said a committee would be set up to devise ways to face those issues and overcome them.
Khoja said the shortage of nurses is a universal issue and that steps were being taken to encourage locals to go for nursing. He added that a committee would start work next year to create five main specialties in nursing.
One of the main aims of the nursing club, Khoja said, is to take note of the problems and challenges, study them and resolve them paying close attention to the priorities.
He said it is also imperative to learn from regional and international experiences to deal with problems and overcome obstacles.
Safia Al-Sharah, a consultant for nursing affairs at the Ministry of Health in Kuwait and one of the founders of the nursing club, highlighted the challenges facing her country.
According to her, Kuwait lacks qualified nurses. Only one holds a Ph.D degree, 12 have masters and about 50 have bachelor degrees. "If more with higher degrees join the profession, others will be encouraged," Al-Sharah said. "The Gulf Nursing Club will provide scientific material and make them available through a database that will benefit not only GCC nurses but also those researching about nursing profession in the GCC counties," said Al-Sharah.
By Fatima Sidiya
© Arab News 2008
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