Why Nursing Could Be A Surprising Career Bet

Dear Reader,

Twenty-five-year-old Rajesh remembers taking care of his grandmother when he was young, while the rest of his family was busy.

“When I used to be with her, she used to be different. She used to be very happy,” he says.

That feeling, of making someone else happy, is what he was chasing when he decided to pursue nursing as a career.

He chose it intentionally over becoming a doctor because, as a nurse, you “get to spend more time with patients.”

But he got a reality check once he started working.

He had spent more than eight lakh rupees on his course, but his starting salary was just Rs 18,000 a month. And what bothered him even more was how the hospital treated nurses.

He says they were expected to follow doctors’ orders, even when they suspected something was wrong.

“They even asked us to take food orders from patients’ families. We can do that in emergencies, but they expected us to do so all the time,” he tells me.

Now, like thousands of Indian nurses who go abroad each year, Rajesh is preparing to move to Germany.

About 6.4 lakh Indian nurses already work abroad; India is the world’s second-largest source of nurses, after the Philippines.

And that is happening at a time when India needs more nurses. The country is ageing, while its healthcare needs are growing.

“Nursing is the noblest and most ethical profession. But the hygiene part isn’t well managed,” says Colonel Binu Sharma, who started her career as a military nurse and has spent over four decades in the field, including in senior leadership roles at corporate hospital chains.

She says poor compensation isn't the only problem. Many young nurses aren't even aware of the career pathways available to them, while nursing continues to carry social stigma in India.

But Stan John’s experience in the US shows what the profession can look like when those pathways are wider. Stan has worked as a travel nurse and is now a nurse manager near Chicago.

“There are so many opportunities. Even if you’re bored and tired, you can switch jobs, you can even pick up jobs through an app,” he says.

So what would it take to make nursing a career that young Indians want to build in India?

Tune in to the latest episode of The Signal Brief to hear from nurses like Rajesh and Stan about the differences between nursing in India and abroad, and what India could do to retain its nurses.

You can find The Signal Brief on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.

Thank you once again for listening and supporting us. We’d love to hear from you; write to us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or X at @thesignaldotco.

Best,
Kudrat
on behalf of The Core

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