Nightingale recruitment drive continues

Nadira Gunatilleke

Another 15,000 nurses will be recruited to the public service within the next few years. The recruitment drive will continue without interruption. The decision had been taken after considering the increasing demand for nurses in the State sector, a Health Ministry spokesman said.

According to the spokesman, the Ministry implemented a special program to recruit 15,000 nurses during 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Around 13,000 nurses have been recruited to the public service under this program. Under the second program another 15,000 new nurses will be recruited. Students who pass the Advanced Level Examination in the science stream are eligible to apply for the training.

The spokesman said the demand for nurses increase daily and the Colombo National Hospital has requested for 200 trained nurses while the Maligawatte Kidney Hospital has requested for 100 trained nurses.

The demand will increase further because the Government is developing all state hospitals, especially those in the North and East. The Ministry will recruit 4,542 new nurses within the next two months under the recruitment drive. The Ministry last week recruited 511 new nursing students. Another 210 nursing students will be recruited from Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Ampara and Moneragala districts while 334 nursing students will be recruited from Badulla, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya districts, he said.

The number of nursing students to be recruited from Kurunegala, Kegalle and Ratnapura districts is 580. Another 417 nursing students will be recruited from Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts. Arrangements have been made to recruit 81 nursing students to Sri Jayawardenepura Nurses Training School, the spokesman added.