By Emma Farge

GENEVA (Reuters). – Omicron-fueled COVID-19 epidemics has prompted wealthy nations to recruit more nurses from the poorer regions of the world. This is a step that could worsen the dire shortages of staff in already overstretched countries, said the International Council of Nurses.

Howard Catton (CEO of Omicron, a Geneva-based organization that represents 27,000,000 nurses and 130 other national organizations) said absentees have increased due to burnout, sickness, and departures from staff amid Omicron’s surging cases.

He said that the Western world has responded to this gap by recruiting army personnel and volunteers as well as retirees. But many are increasing their international recruitment because of the growing health inequity.

Catton, who was quoted in a Reuters interview citing a COVID-19 report and the global nurse force as the author, stated, “We have seen an absolute increase in international recruitment places like Canada, Germany, Canada, and the United States.”

“I really fear this ‘quick fix solution’ – it’s a bit similar to what we’ve been seeing with PPE (personal protective equipment) and vaccines where rich countries have used their economic might to buy and to hoard – if they do that with the nursing workforce it will just make the inequity even worse.”

According to ICN data, there had been a shortage of nurses in the world before the pandemic. Nearly 90% of these shortages were found in lower and middle-income countries.

Catton stated that some of the most recent hires for rich countries are from sub-Saharan Africa. This includes Nigeria and other parts of the Caribbean. She said that nurses often get motivated by better wages and terms at work than they receive back home.

According to the ICN, this was being done by giving nurses preferential immigration status.

He stated that “the bottom line is that there are some who would see this as rich countries paying for the education of nurses and other health workers.”

Catton said even rich countries would struggle to deal with the “mountains in backlogs of unmet healthcare” once the pandemic is over. She called for greater investment and a ten year plan to increase the strength of the workforce.

“We need to coordinate, collaborate, coordinated, global effort, which is supported by serious investments, not only warm words and platitudes,” he stated.