Kochi: Pact inked for nurses’ recruitment to UK

Kochi: The nurses from Kerala have a golden chance to get employment in British hospitals.

A state government delegation on Monday signed an agreement with Health Education England (HEE), which is the allied institution of National Health Service (NHS) of UK, for employment of nurses in government hospitals in the UK under NHS.

The agreement was signed by ODEPC chairman N. Sasidharan Nair and HEE global engagement director Prof Ged Byrne in the presence of visiting Labour and Skill Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan and Labour and Skill Additional Chief Secretary Asha Thomas at the Manchester headquarters of HEE.

The nurses are to be recruited by the Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Consultants (ODEPC). The English side was represented at the signing ceremony by HEE global management chief operating officer Jonathan Brown, Bin Hougas and Michel Thomas who also held talks with the Kerala delegation.

As per the agreement, nurses with one year experience who have passed IELTS and OET will be employed on contract basis in government hospitals in the UK. The charges for various courses, visa and flight ticket will be free. They will be provided free stay for three months in the UK. The UK government is expected to employ 5,000 nurses and middlemen will be avoided in this employment.

Minister Ramakrishnan said that nurses in government service in the state too can make use of the opportunity by taking leave.The delegation also visited the hospitals under NHS. The minister interacted with nurses who were employed under the Global Learners Programme (GLS) at Royal Balckburn Hospital and Royal Preston Hospital. He also enquired about the facilities, the opportunities and treatment at the hospitals.  He said that these nurses are given very good facilities by the UK Government there. Steps will be taken to recruit more nurses to the UK under GLS through ODEPC.