Serious shortage of nurses in Northern Cyprus

President of the Cyprus Turkish Nurses and Midwives Association (KTHEB), Ali Özgöçmen, noted that the country has long been facing a shortage of nurses due to poor health and employment policies. He stated that if urgent measures are not taken, this issue, which is a public health problem, will further weaken the healthcare system.

Emphasizing the need for scholarship programs and internship guarantees for the nursing profession, Özgöçmen said: “Career orientation towards the profession should be strengthened by providing job guarantees, and the vocational nursing school—which was closed but still has an active law—should be reopened by lowering the training level to the undergraduate level.”

In his written statement today, Özgöçmen said that the recently held Level III senior nursing exam for inpatient health institutions yielded shocking results for the country. He pointed out that there were 220 applicants for 100 vacancies, and only 91 people passed the exam, stressing that this situation raises serious concerns about both the structure of the exam questions and the quality of nursing education.

Özgöçmen noted that despite the serious nursing shortage in the TRNC for a long time, such low numbers of applicants raise major concerns in terms of public health. He cited the lack of financial resources, the declining social value of the profession, and poor health and employment policies as the main reasons for this.

These are concrete indicators of the government's failure in health and education policy. They are the result of so-called development plans that undermine the nursing profession! It is true that public health is at risk. We must not forget that today’s youth are tomorrow’s nurses, and tomorrow’s nurses are society’s health insurance. This is not a problem of a professional group—it is a public health issue that affects the future of the entire society. If urgent steps are not taken, our healthcare system will become even more fragile. One must ask why the government is not retaining nurses in the country.