Japan will receive Vietnamese nurses and hospital orderlies to work in the country under an agreement inked recently by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and his Japanese counterpart.

According to Le Van Thanh, Deputy Director of the Overseas Labour Management Department, the Japanese population is ageing rapidly and the demand for nurses and nurse’ aides is increasing.

Thanh said that Vietnam is the third country, after Indonesia and the Philippines, that has formally agreed to satisfy that need by sending workers to Japan.

The two countries plan to jointly establish a coordination office and expect to start selection process by March 2012. A training course will then be organised for successful candidates so that the first batch of Vietnamese nurses and nurse’ aides can leave for Japan by early 2013.

At the moment, the two countries are setting out detailed regulations governing the process.

This is a great opportunity for Vietnamese nurses and nurse’ aides to improve their professional skills and earnings, Thanh said. However, language remains a major barrier for Vietnamese candidates, as they must possess at least an intermediary degree of proficiency in the Japanese language, he added.

Vietnamese nurses and nurses’ aides will also have the chance to work in a modern environment with advanced technology and learn from their Japanese peers.

Qualified nurses will work in Japan for three years and hospital orderlies, four years./.