An exodus of public hospital nurses to the private sector and overseas has reached crisis proportions. To reverse the losses, the Hospital Authority has set up a special task force to devise plans to raise nurses' wages and improve their career prospects. Such efforts are better late than never, even though the authority has only itself to blame for failing to tackle the problem earlier. The shortage of nurses has been recognised as a global problem for some years now, and Hong Kong is no exception. Given the crucial role they play in any medical service, nurses deserve better recognition and higher pay.
According to the authority, its hospitals and departments lose about 800 nurses a year, and it finds it increasingly difficult to make up the number with new recruits. Private hospitals offer more money and public ones often have ill-defined career paths, leading to frustration and burnout. Some clinical services have had to be cut.
The authority has had its hands full dealing with grievances from its doctors about their working conditions, especially working hours; changes to how doctors work continue following a Court of Final Appeal ruling in October. Clearly, similar efforts to tackle the concerns of nurses cannot be delayed any longer.
Our society has traditionally accorded pride of place to doctors over nurses, just as it has to professionals over teachers. Yet teachers help educate our young and nurses tend to our sick. They perform inordinately important social services. We have, however, failed to accord them the social status they deserve. As a result, the two fields often fail to attract high-quality people who might otherwise have made great contributions.
It need not be this way. For example, in Scandinavian countries, nurses and teachers are highly paid and enjoy high social status. Doctors are, of course, indispensable in providing medical treatment. But in day-to-day services, the sick and dying are cared for by nurses. Their hopes of recovery and any easing of suffering - or simply that human touch - rest largely in the hands of nurses. Clearly, such an important job requires talent and commitment that must be properly rewarded and recognised.