New Delhi (NVI): At least 3,000 nurses have been killed by Covid-19, the global nurses’ federation said as it warned of a looming exodus of health workers traumatised by the pandemic.
Exactly one year since the World Health Organization (WHO) first described Covid-19 as a pandemic, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) said burn-out and stress had led millions of nurses to consider quitting the profession.
In a report, ICN said the pandemic could trigger a mass exodus from the profession, from as early as the second half of 2021.
The global nurse shortage could widen to nearly 13 million, it added.
Moreover, the known death toll of nurses killed by the disease – compiled from just 60 countries – is likely to be a gross underestimate of the full total, the federation said.
Once the pandemic has passed, frazzled nurses will then have to deal with all the unmet healthcare needs and waiting lists, whilst also facing likely staff shortages.
ICN chief executive Howard Catton said nurses had gone through “mass traumatisation” during the pandemic, being pushed to physical and mental exhaustion.
“They reach a point where they’ve given everything they can,” he said.
Catton said the global workforce of 27 million nurses was six million short going into the pandemic – and four million were heading for retirement by 2030.
Founded in 1899, the ICN is a federation of more than 130 national nursing associations.
It called for governments to invest in training more new nurses to address the global shortage.
It also called for better pay to encourage existing staff to stay on – to bolster health systems for future crises if nothing else.
-CHK
