Indonesia Sent 208 Nurses to Japan

Jakarta - Indonesia sent 208 nurses and caregivers for the elderly to Japan on Wednesday as part of bilateral economic partnership agreement between the two countries.

The nurses and caregivers will be placed in hospitals and old age homes in several big cities in the country. The dispatch of the health workers was the first time Japan has accepted a large number of foreign workers in the medical and welfare sector.

After arrived in Japan, the nurses and caregivers for the elderly will be taught Japanese for six months before they are placed into hospitals as nursing assistants, or at nursing care facilities as care workers, officials said.

Those working at hospitals will need to pass the national examination of nurses within three years while those working at nursing care facilities will need to pass the national examination of care workers within four years if they wish to continue working in Japan.

Failure to pass will mean they have to return to Indonesia.
Under the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) signed on August 2007, Japan is scheduled to accept 1,000 Indonesian nurses and care workers over a two-year period.

In the first year, Japan is supposed to accept 500 Indonesian nurses.