Migrant Nurses Ireland (MNI) is appealing to Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI), to combat delay in NMBI registration process for overseas nurses. Currently, the process to confirm decision letter takes up to eight months and no proper communications are made from the side of NMBI, the nurses complain.
Overseas nurses, including those from India are spending an average of €350 to apply for a decision letter only which can facilitate their recruitment to Irish healthcare system. As the salary in home countries are very low, keep on waiting without a favourable decision even after spending thrice of their income is making the lives of nurses more miserable.
As per INMO 2019 Statistics, about half of the nursing population in Ireland is constituted by non- EU Nationals. Undoubtedly, the role migrant nurses play in the Irish healthcare sector is vital.
According to NMBI, the pandemic is causing delay as they face staff shortages. Before pandemic the waiting period to process decision letters was 12 weeks. But waiting for six to eight months is not acceptable even if we blame Covid, the devastated nurses say. Also Ireland is facing huge staff shortages in many healthcare settings and proper action from NMBI can resolve the issue quickly, they point out.
Taking into consideration all these factors, Migrant Nurses Ireland, on behalf of overseas applicants, have decided to meet with the NMBI to consider these challenges and to come forward with appropriate alternatives at the earliest. In the meeting, a petition signed by the migrant nurses will also be submitted. The MNI is appealing the nurses to sign the online petition which can bring an end to the crisis. You can sign the petition following the link: