After the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Pinij said the ministry had approved the Mutual Recognition Arrangement on Nursing Services, which will be brought up at the 38th Asean Economic Ministers Meeting from August 21-25 in Kuala Lumpur. The wording of the agreement was currently being fine-tuned by member countries, he said.

The idea was to let qualified nurses from Asean countries apply for work permits in other member states, Pinij said. The nurses would then be evaluated and placed under the supervision of the nursing regulatory authority of the country in which they worked. Here, this would be the Thailand Nursing Council, he said.

Pinij dismissed concerns the scheme would have a negative impact on hospitals here, which already faced a nursing shortage, saying the Kingdom had the potential to produce more nurses and that the shortage was due to the limited number of civil-servant positions available.

Meanwhile, the ministry was reluctant to agree to the Asean-United States Harmonised Pharmaceutical Regulations as some topics had yet to be resolved, including the issue of intellectual property protection, Pinij said.