Nursing students to get scholarships

Hospitals in Slovakia lack some 1,020 nurses, with the number increasing to 1,700 if those who are over retirement age, but still working, are taken into account too, according to an analysis drafted by the Health Ministry's analytical unit. These figures do not cover outpatient facilities. According to the material, only 44 percent of graduates who conclude the bachelors nursing study programme take up jobs as nurses in Slovakia; the rest go abroad or change professions. That's why the Health and Education Ministries want to offer a bonus of €2,000 per student for each academic year, on the condition that they will work as nurses in Slovakia after the conclusion of their studies for at least 9 years. The topic will be discussed by Government on Wednesday but the Slovak Chamber of Nurses and Midwives has already expressed its scepticism that it would work. "It is naive to think that a graduate will be satisfied with a scholarship while studying and will not pay attention to what is waiting for him / her after leaving school," reads a statement of the Chamber, pointing to the fact that nursing graduates earn enough abroad in neighbouring Austria or in Switzerland to return the scholarship or will simply not apply for one. The Chamber wants higher wages for nurses in Slovakia.