Germany lures first batch of Lankan nursing professionals

Friday, 2 May 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Eldercare provider DOMICIL planning to expand, opportunity for our nurses

Lankan nursing professionals have received wider global acceptance, as far as the Eurozone. Work is currently underway to recruit the first batch of qualified and experienced Lankan nursing professionals for eldercare homes of a reputed German healthcare firm. “The first Lankan batch to Germany will constitute of 12 nurses” said Sri Lanka’s Consul General in Frankfurt Pradip Jayawardene recently. Jayawardene was speaking on the progress of first medical Lankan human resource placements in Europe’s topmost economy. As a result of long-term discussions and relationships established by the officials of Consulate General of Sri Lanka in Frankfurt, some German private sector health services providers and elder homes are now assessing the outsourcing of qualified and experienced nurses from Sri Lanka to their eldercare homes.

The agreement to recruit 12 Sri Lankan nurses to eldercare homes in Germany’s DOMICIL Group was signed recently in the presence of Consul General Jayawardene and First Secretary (Commerce) G.L. Gnanatheva by Dieter Mahr, Darmstadt, Germany. “The first Lankan batch to Germany will constitute of 12 nurses, recruited by Hamburg’s DOMICIL Group, a well-known operator in eldercare. Sri Lanka human resource principals for DOMICIL are currently carrying out the search and short-listing process. If this batch finds success, more batches will be recruited. First Secretary (Commerce) G.L. Gnanatheva and I have also visited another eldercare facility in Offenbach, had discussions with them and explained about the high standard of Sri Lankan nursing training,” revealed Jayawardene. DOMICIL Group presently maintains 25 eldercare homes across Germany with seven more in the pipeline. The majority of them are in Berlin, the city with the largest population. In 2006, DOMICIL won an award for outstanding achievements in the care of the elderly, titled ‘Altenpflegepreis des Landes Schleswig-Holstein. DOMICIL’s holding firm is the Hamburg-based, family-held HBB (Hanseatische Betreuungs- und Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH). “DOMICIL Group plans to expand to further homes in the coming years. The Sri Lankan nurses would be recruited initially for a two-year period and thereafter depending on the level of satisfaction with their services, their contract would be extended for another period, possibly without a limit,” stressed Jayawardene. The elderly population (age 75 and older) in Germany has increased dramatically over the years and is predicted to increase to over 10% by 2020. The population in need of care is expected to increase from over two million to nearly three million in 2020, which is about 2% of the population in Germany. Presently 46% of the elderly in need of care are currently given care by family members, 22% are provided care at their home by mobile care-giving services and 32% are resident in special care-giving institutions like the ones operated by the DOMICIL Group. The continual increase in the elderly population in Germany signifies that there will be a greater need for healthcare services to be provided to the elderly, notably long-term care services.