Japan wants more Vietnamese nurses, orderlies

Care workers prepare for the working-in-Japan programme (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) –Vietnamese nurses and orderlies are in demand in Japan, with around 760 needed this year, but there are only 210 qualified candidates, according to the Department of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). 

The information was revealed during a conference held on September 26 in Hanoi to review three years of the implementation of a programme on sending Vietnamese nurses and orderlies to Japan, which is part of the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA) signed on December 25, 2008. 

The MOLISA has worked with the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam and the Japanese language school Arc Academy on selecting candidates for the programme, who receive Japanese language training before taking up their jobs at Japanese hospitals and sanatoriums . 

So far 470 caregivers have been sent to Japan. 

The ministry noted that in 2015 and 2016, more than 40 percent of Vietnamese care workers have passed Japan’s national certification exams.

At present, 210 care workers are taking their language training course in Vietnam. 

Also at the conference, the MOLISA announced that it will recruit 260 nurses and orderlies this year for the working-in-Japan programme. 

Japan has one of the most rapidly ageing populations in the world. In the next ten years, the country will need up to 600,000 nurses and orderlies to take care of elderly people; hence the great demand to recruit from Vietnam. 

Vietnam is the third country after the Philippines and Indonesia to cooperate with Japan in the exchange of nurses and orderlies. 

The agreement provides a good chance for Vietnamese nurses and orderlies to be trained and stationed in a professional overseas working environment, thus improving their qualifications.-VNA