The Ministry of Health is now using the new entry criteria approved by Cabinet for nursing recruitment into the Fiji School of Nursing.
That criteria aims to ensure that those selected to be trained at the FSN are nurses who will be able to serve Fiji well and not be easily lured away for contracts overseas.
The new entry criteria are based on new Ministry of Education geography based intake as per Cabinet Decision No.206 of Proposed Admission Policy for Fiji School of Nursing Diploma Program on September 11, 2009.
Health Media Liaison Officer Iliesa Tora confirmed that although marks attained during external exam was one of the criteria, selection was also based on other factors.
“We are now using the new entry criteria that also involve ensuring that we have got Fiji covered,” Mr Tora said.
“The system now allows us to select students from the urban centres, semi urban, rural and right down to the outer islands.
“That involves looking at their academic results plus looking at other factors like deportment, psychic and their general suitability to the profession.
“A scoring system is put in place during the interviews to rank the four categories of interviewees and the final list of intake is then drawn out of this exercise.”
Mr Tora said that the Ministry wants to produce nurses for Fiji and not the export market.
“That has been a major problem in the past where in a lot of cases we have produced nurses who are only waiting for an opportunity to leave and work overseas,” Mr Tora said.
“We then have to keep filling the vacuum year in, year out. With this new system we hope that we can produce nurses who are not only interested to be nurses for an income but those who are dedicated to this special field and serve the people of Fiji.”
Mr Tora added the Ministry needs to get 170 new nurses every year for the next three years to be able to meet the demand.