ABU DHABI // A serious drive is needed to make the nursing profession more appealing to Emiratis, health officials have said.
Figures revealed at the Abu Dhabi Medical Congress on Sunday show that just 3 per cent of the 23,000 to 25,000 nurses across the emirates were UAE nationals.
There were also calls to “glamorise” nursing to increase its attractiveness as a profession.
While discussions are ongoing to triple the number of Emirati nurses over the next two years, an effort was needed to encourage more to join the nursing workforce, said Noora Abdul Majid Abubaker, a nursing educator at Dubai Hospital.
“The number of Emiratis working in the nursing profession is very, very low and this needs to be addressed,” said Ms Abubaker, speaking at the fourth Nursing Conference at the congress.
While just 3 per cent of nurses were UAE nationals, the average was slightly higher in Abu Dhabi at 8 per cent, said the Emirati nursing educator.
“Hopefully this will change in the future,” she said, adding that there were discussions by the Emirates Nursing Association to increase the numbers of Emirati nurses.
Ideally, at least 10 per cent of the nursing workforce would be Emiratis by 2015, she said.
Ms Abubaker believed the promise of career progression and more senior roles would entice more into the profession.
Emilo Galea, head of the nursing education department at Mafraq Hospital, Abu Dhabi, said that old-fashioned views and misconceptions about nursing could be holding back many Emiratis.
“Nursing needs to be glamorised to show that we are a real professional body, that you need to be really proud to be part of,” said Mr Galea, speaking on the first day of the congress at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.
“We have to show Emirati youngsters and their families that nursing is actually a profession in its own self in which our young females can grow. Nursing is not just to give care to patients but also an avenue where they can progress to higher levels such as management.
“We are trying to change the perspectives of what some Emiratis think about what nursing is. What we obviously hope is that we will get more and more and more Emiratis – then we can show ... how good it is for them to choose this profession.”
Despite the lack of nurses, Mr Galea felt the standard of care given by those working in the nursing profession had risen steadily over the past five years.
“The quality of nursing practice has gone up to an international level where it makes you so proud that we have such a bunch of people who are really really dedicated to their practice,” he said.
Prof Gwen Sherwood, associate dean for academic affairs at the Chapel Hill school of nursing, University of North Carolina in the US, said a skewed perspective on nursing prevails around the world.
Many people, she said, did not believe it was a career to be proud of.
“That is part of the work of this conference,” she said.
“It requires the best minds, the best thinkers to be able to practise in the holistic way that we are advocating.”
Ms Abubaker said while the number of Emirati nurses was very low, there was a shortfall of nurses in general. “The demand for registered nurses, both Emirati and expatriates, in the country outstrips supply,” she said.
Ms Abubaker is calling on more people to choose the profession she described as a “calling”.
She started in the nursing professional in 2011 and described it as a highly demanding but also rewarding job.
Good quality nurses can make a patient’s ordeal in hospital far more bearable, she said.
“The feeling I get from my patients are wonderful,” said the Emirati, as she shared her experience in the sector to a 1,000-strong audience.
A drawback of so many expatriate nurses was being able to break down local and cultural barriers, she added.
As an Emirati nurse, Ms Abubaker felt she could communicate better with local patients.
“People say to me I understand more what they are going through as a local,” she said.
jbell@thenational.ae
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
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- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
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- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
