Citizens need not apply for nursing jobs!

Despite booming opportunities in the Kingdom’s healthcare sector, a new generation of well-trained Bahraini nurses is finding it hard to get jobs.  Their fate is not different from Bahraini medical graduates who have come out in open against the lack of career opportunities. Going by the Health Ministry data, the Kingdom has over 1,200 registered nurses out of which more than 500 are expatriates. Bahraini Mohammed Ibrahim completed his nursing studies at a recognised university in Jordan three years ago. Though he has all the requirements to enter the profession, his career hasn’t taken off.

He had send his resume to every government and private hospitals in the kingdom but then he didn’t get any positive results. Mohammed then approached the National Health Regulatory Authority and the officials there asked him to obtain a short-term experience before applying for a nursing licence. Some of his friends adviced him to go back to Jordan and he worked there for a year and a half but he didn’t get sufficient income to support his family.

He came back to bahrian with full hope but the laws were changed by then. He had to produce a two-year experience certificate for obtaining the licence. They also suggested him to do some expensive courses before I could practice the profession here.” 

 Left with no options, Mohammed again took a Jordan flight and worked there a few more months. “Now NHRA says I should obtain a threeyear experience certificate to get the licence. I am now 30, a totally frustrated individual with no hope of achieving anything in life.”  Mohammed’s experience is not a unique one. Many Bahraini nurses are moving out of the Kingdom to get jobs, while hospitals here are hiring expatriate nurses. 

Chairing the Cabinet on Monday, His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa directed the Health Ministry to recruit Bahrainis graduates in medical as well as paramedical fields. This follows an appeal by 310 doctors whose applications for jobs were not accepted by the Health Ministry. Only 70 were given appointment orders following a written exam and personal interviews.