- Title: Global shortage of nurses growing as COVID roars back - nurses' council chief
- Date: 10th December 2021
- Summary: ANTWERP, BELGIUM (RECENT - NOVEMBER 19, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NURSES PUTTING BODY OF MAN WHO DIED OF COVID-19 IN BODY BAG NURSE LEAVING WITH BODY ON WHEELED BED
- Embargoed: 24th December 2021 18:41
- Keywords: Covid-19 International Council of Nurses health workers hospitals pandemic vaccine virus
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / MUNICH, GERMANY / JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA / REXBURG, IDAHO, UNITED STATES / ATHENS, GREECE / ANTWERP, BELGIUM / PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / MUNICH, GERMANY / JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA / REXBURG, IDAHO, UNITED STATES / ATHENS, GREECE / ANTWERP, BELGIUM / PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Europe,Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA009F7GI8NB
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The ranks of the world's nurses are shrinking further just as the Omicron coronavirus spreads and Western countries step up recruitment of health care workers from African and other poorer countries, the International Council of Nurses said on Friday (December 10).
Many nurses are burned out from the COVID-19 pandemic and rates of "intention to leave" within a year have doubled to 20-30%, said Howard Catton, CEO of the Geneva-based group representing 27 million nurses in 130 national associations.
At least 115,000 nurses have died from COVID-19, but that World Health Organization figure from the start of the pandemic through May was conservative and the true figure is probably twice that, he said.
"I think that we are at a tipping point...if those numbers continue the trend that we are seeing, it could be an exodus of people," Catton told a news briefing.
"I almost think that governments need to be thinking about the life support package of measures they need to be putting together to invest in their nurses and their health care workers next year," he said.
There was already a global shortage of six million nurses before the pandemic and some 4.75 million nurses are due to retire over the next few years, he added.
Wealthy countries have nearly 10 times more nurses to population on average than poor ones but many are recruiting overseas to staff their hospitals, he said, noting that the Philippines and India were traditional exporters.
The omicron variant, first detected last month by South Africa and Hong Kong, has now been reported by 58 countries, according to the WHO.
"My sense is that nurses around the world, I think like all of us were perhaps starting to feel that we were starting to see light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, but now there is a palpable anxiety that we could be going back close to square one," Catton said.
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