Local nurses go global in search of dollars

Local nurses go global in search of dollars

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Frida Alfiana Modok looked happy when she graduated from a
local nursing academy on Wednesday, but her mind was no longer
here as she was dreaming of further study and of working in
Australia.

The 27-year old along with 28 other graduates of the Binawan
Institute of Health Sciences (Stikes Binawan) will leave for
Sydney before the end of December to undertake six months study
at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) in order to obtain
an internationally recognized bachelor of nursing degree and
registered nurse (RN) title. They will then work in Australian
hospitals with a gross monthly salary of around A$4,000 (about Rp
29 million). By comparison, the monthly salary of nurses in
Indonesia is only Rp 2 million to Rp 3 million.

"I (now) have certainty in my personal life. I will become an
internationally registered nurse and I can work wherever I like
with international standard payment," she said on the sidelines
of the graduation ceremony at Binawan Stikes campus.

Frida, the eldest daughter of a poor family from Ende, Flores,
expressed her happiness at the prospect of going to Australia as
she recalled her family's poor situation and her three-years of
employment in a public health center in Kupang several years ago.

"It's not only a success, but also a golden chance for me to
lift my family's dignity. No matter how much I have paid the
institute to obtain the bachelor of nursing, I'm challenged to
apply my skills in health sciences to gain more and more
Australian dollars so that my family can get out of poverty," she
said, saying that her two brothers could not complete their high
school education because of financial problems.

Lasnaria Simbolon from Samosir island in North Sumatra said
the opportunity to study at UTS and work in Australia gave
certainty to her future after she had been unemployed for two
years in her hometown before studying at Stikes.

"I'm glad to have graduated with magna cum laude and I'm
challenged to achieve a similar performance during my study at
UTS," she said, adding she would work in the United States after
working for two years in Australia.

She said that thousands of nursing academy graduates have been
left unemployed because besides their low-quality training, they
could not be absorbed into state and private hospitals and did
not have the competence to work overseas.

Lasnaria said she was planning to take a master's program at
UTS after completing her two-year working contract, and then come
back home to help develop health sciences in the country.

Maria Butar-butar from Medan, North Sumatra, said that she
along with six fellow graduates would leave for Saudi Arabia to
work as professional nurses with a monthly net income of US$650.

"The hospitals where we will be employed will cover our trip
to and from Saudi Arabia, provide dormitory accommodation and
daily meals and we will have a 45-day vacation for every 10-
months of employment," she said.

Asked on why she did not choose to continue her study in
Australia, the 28-year-old said she wanted to make money
immediately to help her siblings' education, and to return her
loan to the institute.

"I owe Rp 25 million for the two years of study at the
institute and I have to return it. Besides, I have to help my
parents finance my siblings' education," said Maria.

She said she was keen to show Saudi Arabian people that
Indonesia was not just a place where unskilled housemaids came
from.

Indonesia supplies around 3,000 unskilled workers, such as
housemaids, to Saudi Arabia every month.