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New recruitment system for nurses by India government

According to the order issued by the Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs (MOIA), only state government agencies can do the recruitments from April 30.

Trivandrum — In a bid to check widespread malpractices in the recruitment of nurses to various foreign countries by recruiting agents, the government of India has restricted the recruitment to authorised government agencies.

According to the order issued by the Ministry of Overseas Indians Affairs (MOIA), only state government agencies can do the recruitments from April 30. The agencies identified for the purpose in Kerala are NORKA Roots and the Overseas Development and Employment Promotion Council (ODEPC).

Recruitment of nurses through any other Indian recruiting agents would be allowed for a specific country whenever such a proposal is received from that country subject to the issue of a country-specific order from the MOIA, said the order.

To recruit nurse through government agencies, the foreign employer will have to register with the eMigrate system of the MOIA. After this is vetted by the Indian mission in the respective country, the employers will be able to raise the demand for nurses with terms and conditions of their employment. This eliminates the current need for attestation from the Indian missions.

The government has also made emigration clearance from Protector of Emigrant offices mandatory to appoint nurses in 18 ECR countries, which include UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Malaysia and Thailand.

The new step is in the wake of widespread allegations of corruption and cheating by the recruitment agents. There has been a strong demand from the Kerala government and the Indian mission in Kuwait for taking strong steps against the malpractices after some 350 nurses cheated by the travel agents were stranded in Kuwait.

Most of these nurses, who paid Rs2 million to 2.5 million for the visa, realised they were cheated by the recruiting agents when they were paid only 30 per cent of the salary agreed upon during the time of their recruitment.

The nurses in Kerala, which accounts for vast majority of nurses recruited from India to foreign countries, especially the Middle East, have widely welcomed the changes in the recruitments. Various nurses’ bodies said it will check the malpractices going on in the field of recruitments.