KUWAIT: The mushrooming of public health facilities in Kuwait has triggered a steep rise in demand for nurses. However, the recruitment of nurses from the private sector has become a cumbersome process entangled in 'internal politics.' A Ministry of Health (MoH) insider, who wished to remain anonymous but who is familiar with the recruitment process, alleged that "local and internal" politics are hampering the process of hiring nurses locally and making recruitment from abroad an easier option.

There were several private clinics in Kuwait who asked the ministry not to hire nurses from their establishments because they have spent many dinars to bring them here," he explained. He added that if the management at local private hospitals and clinics asks the ministry not to employ applicants from among their personnel, "the ministry can't do anything but drop the nurses who were qualified to be hired but who were on the staff at a medical establishment which works closely with the ministry.

The MoH recently announced 2,000 vacancies for nurses, which were created by the expansion of various health facilities across the country. The ministry's Assistant Undersecretary for Medical Services Dr Qais Al-Duwairi was quoted by KUNA as stating that the ministry has established technical committees to visit several countries in South and East Asia to hire nurses beginning this October.

Prior to this announcement, however, the health ministry held a three-day recruitment session that aimed to engage nurses locally. According to some applicants, thousands responded to the advertisements that were run in local newspapers in April. Some applicants recalled that the first day of the event was "a real mess.

One Filipina applicant, who wished to remain anonymous because she is currently employed at a local private clinic, described the application process as unsystematic and degrading. "We were queuing in front of the Human Resource department of the Chest Hospital from 7am; even at that time the place was already teeming with applicants.

There was a long queue in which I lined up. But there were many applicants who were not in the line," said the nurse, who is in her early 30s. She continued recounting her experience, saying that another Filipina nurse working at a private local facility approached her and "discouraged me from joining the queue because anyway when the window opened [for applicants to submit their papers] nobody would stay in the queue...At 8am, they opened the window and the worst application stampede began," she recalled
.

Recalling the chaotic events from the first day of her attempt to apply for one of the posts advertised, she said, "When the window opened to get our application papers the applicants rushed to get near the window. I heard people screaming, shouting. I couldn't breathe; people were rushing to the window." She explained that at one moment she found that her feet were no longer on the ground. "I was lifted off my feet by the crush of bodies trying to get closer to the window. I realized I was in the middle
of a stampede and you know what I was thinking during that time? That it was the end of my life. It was a truly shocking and horrible experience.

Another applicant, an Indian nurse, who was also part of the crowd attempting to submit applications on the first day recalled similar chaotic scenes, telling the Kuwait Times that she hopes that next time the ministry organizes such a recruitment drive, a systematic strategy is put into place. "To avoid a similar stampede, if the crowd is really big, they should inform us what to do with a loudhailer," she said.

In her own words hundreds of applicants were lining up for a whole day. Many felt the wait was in vain. "They were calling names, but maybe two names every one hour, it was really down-grading treatment," the Indian applicant said. According to another Filipina applicant, since her name was not called until 1pm, she decided to come back the following day.

To my dismay I saw my application form, along with thousands of others, on the ground with the litter," she revealed. "I was crying at seeing my papers there, it took me some time to copy all those papers and I paid for the set. Just seeing the papers lying scattered on the ground; it was really disappointing and downgrading.

Numerous reports indicate that better remuneration packages have been introduced for nurses working in the government sector, hence the sharp rise in applications. Nurses agree en masse that the government-employed nurses are well-compensated compared to their counterparts in the private sector, with the figures bearing this belief out: a ministry nurse usually takes home a net monthly salary of KD600-800 compared to the KD 250-400 of their colleagues working in private hospitals and clinics.

For those working in these private facilities, transferring to a state hospital is a long-term plan and a distant dream. However, their dream oftentimes comes with a hefty price tag. Some applicants alleged that getting a nursing job with the MoH is costly as they have to pay to some 'expatriates intermediary' to get an interview or to have their application processed.

The MoH insider who spoke with the Kuwait Times admitted that thousands of nurses had applied during the recent three-day recruitment period. He stated that most of the applicants were on visit visas from India, with many lacking the necessary experience, explaining that the health ministry prefers to hire staff who are here on a 'dependent's visa' or who have resigned from other posts and possess no-objection certificate. "Without this, they cannot be accepted," he revealed. "Nurses who arrive on visit visas can be hired but only in rare cases, perhaps if they have incredible qualifications or 'major wasta.' - Kuwait Times