Thiruvananthapuram: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has urged the Centre to postpone implementation of the new system for overseas recruitment of nurses until the foreign countries place requests for jobs on the e-Migrate portal.
He also expressed fears that the present stalemate in overseas nurses recruitment could affect future prospects of Indian nurses as other countries like the Philippines could grab the job opportunities.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, Mr Tharoor said that though he had already taken up the matter with the external affairs ministry, any decision in favour of Indian nurses have not come. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had also taken up the issue with the centre.
After the new system that mandates overseas recruitment of nurses to GCC countries through e-Migrate portal was made effective from May 31, no recruitment of nurses had taken place as the foreign employers had not yet placed any demands on the portal.
Hence, the government should direct the India’s embassies abroad to initiate talks with foreign governments and make them place demands for nurses through the e-Migrate portal.
Norka secretary Rani George earlier said during a meeting of external affairs committee of parliament that though talks were held with Kuwait government officials on placing job demands through the e-Migrate portal, they were yet to finalise it citing delay in getting clearance of their legal department. There was no response from any other countries to the new recruitment system.
