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1st batch of nurses recruited via eMigrate portal leaves for UAE

More than 600 nurses had returned to Kerala following outbreak of conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Many of them were finding it difficult to get jobs as they had returned without their certificates and other documents.

Trivandrum: The first batch of nurses recruited from Kerala through the newly introduced e-Migrate portal of the government of India left for United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday.
The first batch of 38 nurses was those who returned from the strife-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Yemen. They will be taking up jobs at various institutions under the UAE Ministry of Health. Some of these nurses were earlier offered job various hospital groups run by Indians in the Gulf
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy handed over visa and air tickets to the newly recruited nurses at a function at the Aluva Palace, the state government guest house at Alwaye near the Nedumbaserry International Airport.
More than 600 nurses had returned to Kerala following outbreak of conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Many of them were finding it difficult to get jobs as they had returned without their certificates and other documents.
Chandy said that the state government will issue experience certificate to such nurses based on the entries in their passports.
The 38 nurses are among 124 nurses recruited by Norka-Roots, the field agency of Non-resident Keralites Affairs (Norka) department last month. Chandy said others will leave as and when they get confirmed flight tickets.
Norka-Roots is among three government agencies authorized by the federal government to recruit nurses following of ban on private recruitments. The ban was imposed in the wake of widespread complaints of cheating and exploitation of nurses by the recruitment agents.
The elimination of private agencies has come as a big relief to the nurses as they do not have to pay any fees for the recruitment and their journey. Earlier they were made to cough up thousands of rupees by private recruitment agents to get the job. Though the recruitment agencies were permitted to take only Rs20, 000 as recruitment most agencies collected several times more. One agency in Cochin was found collecting as much as 100 times more than the fee they were entitled to charge.
The e-Migrate system also reduces chances for exploitation as the employers post the terms and conditions and work contracts in the portal.
Earlier nurses in many cases did not get the job and the salaries they were promised by the agents during recruitment.
Besides Norka, another government agency that has been authorized to recruit nurses in Kerala for emigration required countries which include most of the GCC countries is the Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Consultants (ODEPC).
The federal government has also extended the e-Migrate system for the recruitment of other ECR categories of workers. As per this, all foreign employers who wish to make even a single recruitment from India will have to register with eMigrate portal to get emigration clearance from the Protectorate of Emigrants.
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