TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan Union of Nurses Association (TUNA) called for the government on Thursday (Oct. 19) to provide more financial assistance and allow male nurses to serve their conscription in hospitals as staffing shortage issues worsen.
The nation has long been plagued by a shortage of nurses, especially amid the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) indicated that the turnover rate among nurses was at 11.79% in 2022, while the vacancy rate climbed to 6.53, marking a record high in a decade.
While reports of an unequal nurse-to-patient ratio in hospitals reached 57.9%, 75.6% of nurses polled expressed dissatisfaction with their wages. TUNA President Chi Shu-ching explained, "In the past, we had sufficient staff but a lack of hospital beds."
However, though hospital beds are no longer the problem in today's climate, the shortage of staff means ER patients still need to wait a while before being attended.
Meanwhile, TUNA is also calling on the government to consider allowing male nurses to serve their conscription in hospitals, to which MOHW Minister Hsueh Jui-yuan responded that the relevant issues will be discussed with the Ministry of Interior's (MOI) Department of Conscription Administration.
However, because the number of people who actually serve in substitute military service as they continue to work is quite small, whether or not it has a certain effect on the relief of nursing manpower is also one of the issues to be discussed, Hsueh added.
The association also called for a monthly subsidy of NT＄10,000 for all nursing personnel for at least two years, and allow the number of years of service for practicing nurses to extend to three years.
