Nursing Sector Exhausted Pushes Syrian Nurses to Emigrate
Northern Syria- Syrian nurse Raham Al-Halabi (pseudonym) is preparing to travel with the aim of working in Iraq, with a monthly salary exceeding ten times what she earns in a government hospital in Syria, after spending about 8 years in her nursing profession, which she describes as harsh and difficult.
Al-Halabi says her monthly salary of approximately 260,000 Syrian pounds (18 US dollars) barely covers the cost of food, drink, and transportation for a few days of the month, in exchange for the tough working conditions that require her to work for over 12 hours, even on official holidays and occasions.
She adds in her conversation with Al Jazeera Net that nurses in Syria do not receive any cash alternatives or incentives for overtime work, while they are given a nature of work allowance not exceeding 5% of the monthly wage, unlike other medical professionals such as doctors and anesthesia technicians, who receive around 100%.
The nurse confirmed that most of her colleagues are considering emigrating from Syria, waiting for the right opportunity to travel abroad and work under better conditions, pointing out that what hinders them is the lack of travel expenses, as well as the restrictions imposed by the government and the Ministry of Health on those who remain, preventing them from resigning.
Since the conflict between the opposition and the regime in Syria turned into an armed conflict, the country has witnessed a sharp decline in medical personnel, escalating in recent years, coinciding with declining wages and poor living conditions in the country, against the backdrop of the collapse of the Syrian pound and economic crises.
Nursing Sector Exhausted
According to the government newspaper Al-Baath, thousands of Syrian nurses have resigned over the past five years, warning that this severe shortage has led to a decline in the quality of healthcare, an increase in mortality rates associated with infections, and a decrease in patients’ chances of survival.
The newspaper pointed out that the nursing sector in Syria has become exhausted, with one nurse providing healthcare for every 15 patients, within an abnormal scale, as medical regulations state that one nurse should serve 5 patients in regular wards in hospitals.
Pediatrician Zaid Al-Asaad believes that the category of nurses has borne additional burdens during the war in Syria, among other medical personnel, despite not being recognized for the efforts they exert and receiving monthly salaries that do not meet their needs.
Al-Asaad stated in his conversation with Al Jazeera Net that “migration and the leakage of the medical sector are natural occurrences during wars and crises facing countries,” adding that the Syrian government bears the greatest responsibility “for failing to preserve medical personnel by improving their wages and work allowances.”
Al-Asaad points out that the wage disparities between Syria and neighboring countries have played a significant role in the migration of Syrian male and female nurses by attracting them to work under better living conditions, emphasizing that security solutions are not effective in maintaining the remaining Syrian medical cadres.
The Syrian doctor also noted that the Ministry of Health has not yet activated the Syrian Nursing Syndicate, as stipulated in Decree No. 38 of 2012, and its internal and financial system has not been approved, nor has a nursing syndicate president been elected, nor has a retirement fund for nurses been established.
Pursuing Defectors
In an attempt to prevent resignations and the leakage of nurses, the Ministry of Higher Education raised the fine imposed on a graduate nurse in case of not joining work in public hospitals to 7 million Syrian pounds (about 500 US dollars), considering that the non-affiliated graduate nurse has not fulfilled her obligations, and is demanded to repay “the expenses spent on her” and to be pursued judicially.
The decree regarding the increase of the fine specified conditions for accepting the resignation of the nurse, or transferring her before the end of her commitment to serving the hospital, at a time when nurses claim that resignation has become almost impossible.
