Government-trained staff travel abroad as hospitals face shortages, citing lack of opportunities
KARACHI:
Despite heavy public spending on nursing education and training, the majority of government-funded nurses in Sindh are migrating abroad due to a lack of employment opportunities in public hospitals, exacerbating an already serious shortage in the province’s healthcare system.
According to research, the Sindh government spends approximately Rs 1.6 billion annually on monthly stipends for nursing students enrolled in public and private nursing colleges and schools operating within government hospitals.
During the five years of nursing education and compulsory domestic work, this expenditure increases to around Rs 8.2 billion. However, due to poor workforce planning and limited authorized positions, most trained nurses fail to secure government jobs and are forced to seek employment abroad.
Every year, around 1,500 nurses graduate from public nursing institutions in Sindh after completing four years of education and one year of domestic work. Of them, only 400 to 500 nurses are absorbed by government hospitals, while the remaining majority remain unemployed or leave the country in search of better paying jobs and incentives in Gulf countries and Europe. Currently, the Health Department has only 5,000 licensed nursing posts across Sindh, despite the increasing patient load in public hospitals.
Research shows the province’s government hospitals are facing a shortage of nearly 15,000 nurses. On general wards, a single nurse is typically responsible for between 12 and 15 patients, while ICU nurses must care for more than six patients at a time, well above recommended standards, raising serious concerns about patient care and safety.
Currently, Sindh has 21 public nursing schools and more than 80 private institutions. Public nursing schools admit between 70 and 80 students a year, while private schools enroll about 50 students each. Nursing students from both sectors receive a monthly stipend of Rs 30,000 from the Sindh Health Department. As a result, more than 5,500 nurses graduate annually across the province, costing the government around Rs 1.6 billion a year in stipends alone. During the entire training cycle, this figure reaches 8.2 billion rupees, but the province continues to lose trained nurses due to lack of adequate employment opportunities in the public sector.
Young Nurses Association president Ijaz Kalhori said public hospitals in Sindh urgently need at least 15,000 additional nurses due to constant pressure from patients. He criticized the unequal ratio between doctors and nurses in government hospitals and said lack of employment for trained nurses is forcing them to leave Pakistan. He urged the government to ensure the employment of nurses trained with public funds.
Meanwhile, Irshad Abbasi, principal of Sindh government’s Liaquatabad Nursing College, said that following the directives of Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho, evening nursing classes have been introduced for the first time in government nursing colleges to address the shortage of trained nurses in the province.
