Of the 1,000 residents who applied for nursing jobs on Thursday, the first of a two-day hiring campaign, none were Emirati.
For years, the government has sought to attract Emiratis into the profession but despite there being more than 7,000 Seha nurses in Abu Dhabi, only 124 are UAE nationals and only one of them is male.
Speaking on the side-lines of the sixth Seha International Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Conference (Sinmac), Ms Annette Kennedy, president of the International Council of Nurses said one of UAE’s biggest challenges is attracting and retaining Emirati nurses and depending less on expatriates.
“It’s a challenge all over the world but recruitment, image and possibly salaries are the biggest challenges in the UAE.”
She said the UAE currently does not have a sufficient number of UAE national nurses.
To remedy this, Seha announced plans to recruit 2,000 nurses over the next few months with officials expecting only a few Emiratis to apply, though at the end of the first day of the recruitment campaign on Thursday, none had.
“We have a lack of Emiratis enrolling in nursing programs and it is challenge,” said Dr Aysha Al Mahri, Seha’s allied health group director.
Dr Al Mahri attributes this to the perception Emiratis have of the nursing profession.
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Read more:
[ Abu Dhabi campaigns for young Emiratis to pursue medical careers ]
[ DHA calls for more Emiratis to enter medical profession ]
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“We need to improve the nursing image and we need the support of the media to spotlight the importance of nurses in providing quality care to patients.”
Dr Al Mahri said educational institutions should support this by highlighting the importance of the role of nurses.
“The government supports Emirati nurses but there is no strong spotlight on nursing. We need to inspire high school students to become nurses.”
Dr Al Mahri said the capital is currently meeting the demand for nurses but more are needed. This year, Seha hired around 1,000 nurses.
“We are looking to meet international standards of nurse-to-patient ratio because we are aiming to provide a safe practice for our patients and one of the important things is that the number of staff should be adequate to meet the demands of the patients.”
She said the nurses currently employed by Seha are predominantly from India and the Philippines.
“There is culture diversity. Some are from Asia, Europe, Arab Countries and the US but mostly are Asian from India and the Philippines.”
Dr Al Mahri said the UAE had sufficient nursing schools but needed more specialised clinical nursing master’s programmes.
“Currently only one is being offered in Ras Al Khaimah and there are no PhD programmes. We are asking academic institutions to open PhD programes.”
Nurses and midwives constitute 50 to 60 per cent of the health workforce in most health systems including those in the UAE.
Seha said it is finalising the Abu-Dhabi (Seha) nursing strategy “in line with the overall nursing strategic directions in the country and the Regional Framework for action 2017-2022 for strengthening nursing and midwifery in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.”
Abu Dhabi was also selected to host the next edition of the International Council of Nurses Congress, where more than 6,000 delegates are expected to attend.
ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Profile
Company: Justmop.com
Date started: December 2015
Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan
Sector: Technology and home services
Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai
Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month
Funding: The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups.
Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
The specs
Engine: Two permanent-magnet synchronous AC motors
Transmission: two-speed
Power: 671hp
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Range: 456km
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OTHER IPL BOWLING RECORDS
Best bowling figures: 6-14 – Sohail Tanvir (for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in 2008)
Best average: 16.36 – Andrew Tye
Best economy rate: 6.53 – Sunil Narine
Best strike-rate: 12.83 – Andrew Tye
Best strike-rate in an innings: 1.50 – Suresh Raina (for Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals in 2011)
Most runs conceded in an innings: 70 – Basil Thampi (for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018)
Most hat-tricks: 3 – Amit Mishra
Most dot-balls: 1,128 – Harbhajan Singh
Most maiden overs bowled: 14 – Praveen Kumar
Most four-wicket hauls: 6 – Sunil Narine
Premier League results
Saturday
Tottenham Hotspur 1 Arsenal 1
Bournemouth 0 Manchester City 1
Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Huddersfield Town 0
Burnley 1 Crystal Palace 3
Manchester United 3 Southampton 2
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 Cardiff City 0
West Ham United 2 Newcastle United 0
Sunday
Watford 2 Leicester City 1
Fulham 1 Chelsea 2
Everton 0 Liverpool 0
Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
- 1st Test India won by 304 runs at Galle
- 2nd Test Thursday-Monday at Colombo
- 3rd Test August 12-16 at Pallekele
Winners
Best Men's Player of the Year: Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
Maradona Award for Best Goal Scorer of the Year: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)
TikTok Fans’ Player of the Year: Robert Lewandowski
Top Goal Scorer of All Time: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Best Women's Player of the Year: Alexia Putellas (Barcelona)
Best Men's Club of the Year: Chelsea
Best Women's Club of the Year: Barcelona
Best Defender of the Year: Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus/Italy)
Best Goalkeeper of the Year: Gianluigi Donnarumma (PSG/Italy)
Best Coach of the Year: Roberto Mancini (Italy)
Best National Team of the Year: Italy
Best Agent of the Year: Federico Pastorello
Best Sporting Director of the Year: Txiki Begiristain (Manchester City)
Player Career Award: Ronaldinho
MOTHER OF STRANGERS
Author: Suad Amiry
Publisher: Pantheon
Pages: 304
Available: Now
Specs: 2024 McLaren Artura Spider
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 and electric motor
Max power: 700hp at 7,500rpm
Max torque: 720Nm at 2,250rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
0-100km/h: 3.0sec
Top speed: 330kph
Price: From Dh1.14 million ($311,000)
On sale: Now
'My Son'
Director: Christian Carion
Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis
Rating: 2/5
About Proto21
Date started: May 2018
Founder: Pir Arkam
Based: Dubai
Sector: Additive manufacturing (aka, 3D printing)
Staff: 18
Funding: Invested, supported and partnered by Joseph Group
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