Nepal’s overworked and underpaid nurses quit for higher wages, better work conditions abroad: ‘no future here’

The situation is straining the healthcare system in Nepal, which is among 55 countries on a WHO list of nations with a severe shortage of healthcare workers

Limited financial resources for healthcare in Nepal mean the lure of better-paid jobs with better working conditions abroad is stronger than ever for many nurses

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Health matron Rambha Sharma walks down a ward at the Kohalpur Teaching Hospital in the Banke District. Nepal is among 55 countries included in a World Health Organization red list of nations facing a severe shortage of healthcare workers. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:29pm, 27 Feb 2024

For Nepali nurse Anshu, being picked for a job programme in Britain was a long overdue recognition of her years of study and work – and a chance to boost her earnings.

“I finally feel my work has been valued,” said the 28-year-old, who asked to be identified only by her first name. She hopes her current monthly salary of 26,000 Nepali rupees (US$196) at a private hospital in Nepal will rise to more than 10 times that in Britain.

But as she and several dozen other nurses prepare to leave, the bilateral government pilot under which they were recruited has fuelled concerns about an acute shortage of nurses and other medical professionals in the South Asian country.

Hospital team members work at the reception area at the National Trauma Centre hospital in the capital Kathmandu. Nepal currently has less than half of the 45,000 nurses that it needs working in the country’s hospital, rural clinics and other healthcare facilities. Photo: AFP

Though only 43 nurses were accepted for the pilot phase, an official at the country’s Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) said a second phase was planned and that Britain eventually wanted to recruit 10,000 Nepali nurses.

While that would help Britain plug labour gaps in the National Health Service, it could exacerbate Nepal’s shortages, nursing officials said.

“The situation is already worrying,” said Hira Kumari Niraula, director of Nepal’s Nursing and Social Security Division (NSSD), a government body involved in the provision of public health services.

“Recently we started community health nursing and school nurse programmes to make nursing service available in needy communities. But the challenge is in many places we are not able to find nurses who are willing to work,” Niraula added.