Nurses to Germany

Germany plans to place 150 Chinese nurses in German hospitals in 2014, as part of a 5-year experiment in health care staffing.

The plan, announced in May, was developed at an April conference of Germany’s Arbeitgeberverband Pflege, an organisation representing healthcare-providers. In contrast to Europe where nurses are in high demand, China has more nurses than it needs, which makes it "an untapped market" for recruitment, said Arbeitgeberverband Pflege’s Vice-President Friedhelm Fiedler, in a statement on their website.

The Chinese health-workers are prepared for employment abroad at the Shandong International Nurse Training Center. They receive training in international care techniques, as well as in the language and culture of their destination country.

Germany has a history of immigration in the healthcare work force; in the 1960s and ‘70s the country had an influx of Filipino and Korean.