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Seven nursing professionals from the Far East are supposed to come to the Basel area and provide relief. That’s what lies behind it.
- The Baselland KSBL Cantonal Hospital employs seven nursing specialists from the Philippines.
- The five women and two men are supposed to come to the Basel area for one and a half years and ease the shortage of skilled workers here.
- Recruiting skilled workers from the Philippines is not without controversy.
Burnt out and frustrated staff, closed wards, less patient care. The shortage of skilled workers is a problem in nursing that has become increasingly acute in recent years.
Several hospitals in Switzerland are therefore increasingly relying on skilled workers from abroad. It recently became known that the University Hospital Basel USB is specifically recruiting staff in Germany and France, but also in Spain and Portugal.
Competition between hospitals
“The competition is fierce. Competition is high, many companies are vying for nursing staff,” said Caroline Johnson, USB media spokeswoman, to SRF in March.
The Baselland KSBL Cantonal Hospital is now going one step further and is hiring seven nursing specialists from the Philippines, as Cornelius-Monroe Huber, head of nursing and member of the KSBL management, confirmed to Radio SRF’s “Regionaljournal Basel”.
The people are very friendly and very focused on people and their needs.
Filipino nurses are interested in gaining experience abroad, says Huber. The plan is for them to stay in the Basel area for a year and a half. After three months of training and a German course, they should receive the same wages as their Swiss colleagues and be fully integrated into the work processes.
Good experiences in other countries
In other countries such as Great Britain, hospitals have had good experiences with specialists from the Philippines, says Huber: “The people are very friendly to deal with and very focused on people and their needs.”
Legend:
Liestal instead of Manila – The Baselland Cantonal Hospital, here at the Liestal location.
SRF/Georgios Kefalas
However, recruiting skilled workers abroad is controversial because these personnel are then missing in the countries affected. Every year, thousands of Filipino women leave their homeland to work as nurses abroad.
The Baselland Cantonal Hospital emphasizes that it is not running an “aggressive marketing campaign” abroad. “But if there are people who are interested, then we will definitely create the opportunity,” says Huber.
Hope for relief in everyday hospital life from 2024
They also do not want to take advantage of the situation of skilled workers who are often poorly paid abroad and of course continue to rely primarily on skilled workers from Switzerland, but also Germany, France, Austria and Spain. Of course, the prerequisite for a job in Switzerland is always that those interested have completed training equivalent to that in Switzerland.
The seven new employees at the KSBL are scheduled to arrive in the Basel area at the beginning of next year and – the game management hopes – will soon provide noticeable relief for the staff.