Nurses Migration to Foreign Land

Migration of nursing workforce from India to overseas is very common and unfortunate. Migration and recruitment of nurses from India has grown exponentially over the years. We are a population of 1.3 billion (2019), India’s public expenditure on health is less than 2 percent of GDP which is even less than lower income countries. A stable nursing health workforce is required in India so that a uniform care can be given to patients and promote community health care at primary level. Increased turnover of nurses in hospitals and community areas makes difficult for the management to deliver continuity of care. India has been facing shortage of Nurses since Independence and the disparities in health care system in India pushing migration and the status quo is grim to turn around. Ironically with more population facing difficulties to retain adequate number of nurses required to keep a health care system in place and countries with less population. The migration of qualified nurses is considerable and further strains the system. In this article, push and pull factors have been discussed extensively related to migration of Nurses to abroad.