Malaysian nurses seek better pay abroad: ‘migrate while you can’

Malaysia is witnessing an exodus of nurses to jobs overseas, paying three or four times the starting salary at home, prompting warnings that low pay and poor conditions are undermining nursing services. essential health.

The country has just one nurse for every 283 people – falling short of the WHO target of one for every 225 – as overcrowded public facilities, a critical shortage of health professionals and a growing disparity between public and private care are pushing foreign-trained nurses.

From a cruise ship off Mexico’s Pacific coast of Huatulco, Susan Wong told This Week in Asia that after eight years as a frontline nurse, she decided it was time for a change.

“I’m incredibly grateful to be where I am today,” Wong said. “I’m living the life of my dreams, traveling the world and getting paid for it.”

Besides the opportunity to travel as far as Alaska and the Caribbean, she also enjoys a better salary in US dollars, in addition to covering her accommodation and food costs.

“So we save a lot,” she said, adding that there were two other former Malaysian nurses on board.

The Malaysian Nurses Association (MNA) says there are more than 117,000 registered nurses in the country, but they have to care for up to six patients each in understaffed wards, and patients expect preferential care.

“Their well-being is not being taken care of, and many are having to do double duty due to the shortage which has taken a toll on their mental health,” said Saaidah Athman, president of the Malaysian Nurses Union ( MNU), at This Week in Asia.