UAE: A new educational requirement introduced by the UAE government may lead to hundreds of Indian nurses losing their jobs, according to a report by Gulf News.
Following the UAE government’s decision to make a bachelor’s degree in nursing a mandatory requisite for the country’s registered nurses, more than 200 nurses have lost their jobs and others have been demoted from their posts.
The new rules state that nurses with diploma certificates must obtain a Post Basic B.Sc Nursing Programme certificate from any one of the universities in the UAE affiliated to the country’s Ministry of Education (MoE). These documents should be produced before authorities by 2020.
However, nurses already enrolled in universities now face a different dilemma. Their requests for an equivalency certificate, based on their diplomas, are also being rejected. Only diplomas issued by the nursing council in Kerala have been exempted from this provision. This exemption comes in view of the fact that a majority of Indian nurses working in the UAE have received their diplomas from the Kerala Nursing Council.
Speaking to Gulf News, one of the affected nurses said, “The majority of us are hailing from Kerala. But we studied outside Kerala for our nursing diploma courses. A few nurses from other Indian states are also facing the same issue.”
Another nurse said, “Many of us have already lost our jobs and now, we are unable to continue our studies and apply for another job, leaving us in a ‘do or die’ situation.”
The affected nurses also mentioned that they will be appealing to India’s Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V Muraleedharan when he visits the UAE this week.
