Medical staff in the West consists of many migrants

The Covid-19 pandemic reveals that a large percentage of nurses in the West are from developing countries. On April 7, the New York Times reported that eight doctors in the UK had died of coronavirus and all eight were migrants. From Egypt, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Sudan. In mid-April, there were ten doctors from overseas who had died of coronavirus in the UK, including a doctor from Bangladesh and a doctor from Syria. 

In 2019, 13.3% of UK National Health Service staff in hospitals in England reported a non-British nationality, according to the Health Foundation. Among doctors, the proportion was 28,4 per cent. In the United States, more than one in four doctors were born in another country, according to Reuters, and almost 16 per cent of nurses are migrants. A third of them were of Filipino origin.

The current pandemic has highlighted a problem that the World Health Organization (WHO) had already brought up in 2010, during the International Nursing Day on May 12: “There are not enough nurses. The developed world fills its vacancies by enticing nurses from other countries. In contrast, developing countries are unable to compete with better pay, better professional development and the lure of excitement offered elsewhere,” the press release said. The World Health Organization reported in April that there are 28 million nurses on the planet and the world needs at least 6 million more nurses.