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Saturday, May 17, 2008
Indonesia nurses, caregivers coming in July
Kyodo News
Japan reached an accord Friday evening with Indonesia to start
accepting hundreds of nurses and nursing-care specialists from the
Southeast Asian nation in July.
It will be the first time Japan will accept nursing specialists from
overseas on a full-scale basis.
Government sources said earlier Japan would accept 1,000 nurses and
nursing-care specialists from Indonesia over the next two years.
The Diet approved a bilateral economic partnership agreement to that
effect in the House of Councilors earlier in the day.
Negotiators from the two countries were in talks Friday in Jakarta to
hammer out the specifics. During the process, the Indonesian side
expressed dissatisfaction with a stipulation that Indonesian nurses be
treated as assistants until they pass Japan's official nursing
examination.
Under the agreement signed last August, the Japanese government will
arrange to accept 600 nurses and 400 caregivers from Indonesia over
the next two years, with a total of 500 accepted each year.
If everything goes smoothly, the government will look to start
recruiting candidates both in Japan and Indonesia as early as next
week, as well as Japanese medical or care-giving facilities interested
in accepting them.
In the first six months, candidates will receive Japanese-language
training and work as caregivers or assistant nurses at hospitals or
nursing homes for the elderly.
If the nursing-care workers and nurses pass national exams within
three and four years, respectively, they will be allowed to stay in
Japan. If not, they will have to leave.
Under the economic partnership agreement, Indonesia is expected to
lift import tariffs on Japanese imports, including automobiles, while
Japan is to give up tariffs on industrial products, forest products
and shrimp from Indonesia, as soon as the agreement comes into force.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/nn20080517a4.html
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