Goal: 8,000 professional nurses a year

Doctor and professional nurses work together in an emergency room to rescue a patient from heart failure at Petchaburi's Phra Chomklao Hospital.

"The shortage of professional nurses is now in crisis," Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said yesterday.

He was speaking ahead of an annual conference, organised this year around the theme of "The way to resolve the nurse crisis" by the alumni association of the Boromarajonani College of Nursing in Bangkok.

Out of the 78,200 professional nurses nationwide, 71,920 work for the ministry and the rest for the private sector.

Using the ratio of professional nurses to caseload, the ministry found that it needs 31,400 professional nurses to staff hospitals and primary healthcare units.

Witthaya said that during the past few years, nurses working with his ministry were not considered as civil servants, so many left and joined private hospitals instead.

The ministry has teamed up with the Praboromarajchanok Institute for Health Workforce Development and public and private sector organisations to graduate 8,070 professional nurses per year, up from the present capacity of 5,750, over four years.

The ministry also plans to upgrade 2,760 emergency medical technicians to professional nurses and train over 10,000 assistant professional nurses to reduce the workload for professional nurses.

At primary care units, almost 15,860 nurses will be promoted to nurse practitioners.

At general and central hospitals and "excellent" medical centres, nurses will be developed into specialised nurses.

To retain professional nurses in government service, the ministry is considering raising their salaries, particularly for those stationed in risky and remote areas.