RI, Kuwait agree to address nurse certification

The Indonesian and Kuwaiti governments intend to sign a memorandum of understanding  requiring Indonesia to update its certification for nurses, after 54 Indonesian nurses hired by Kuwaiti hospitals had their certificates rejected by the local government.

“We have coordinated with the Kuwait government. At the same time, we are training the nurses to speak English or Arabic,” Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih said on Wednesday at the Health Ministry.

The hospitals who had hired the 54 nurses deactivated their licenses.

Indonesian House of Representatives Commission IX member Rieke Diah Pitaloka said the health minister, the manpower and transmigration minister and the Indonesian Labor Placement and Protection Agency (BNP2TKI) chief should address the case.

“This kind of case happens frequently. If the Health Ministry cannot issue a valid nurse certification that is recognized aboard they should renovate the certificate system in Indonesia so that in the future certificates won't be rejected anymore,” she said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

Separately, National Education Deputy Minister Fasli Djalal said that every nursing school followed the national standard. However, he said, there were flaws. “Therefore, we should look into areas where we are lacking and try to mend them,” he said. (fem)