First SL nurse leaves for US

By Darshana Sanjeewa  
A nurse of the Kandy General Hospital has left for the USA, being the first ever Sri Lankan female nurse to work in a US hospital, Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) said.

M. M. G. Ruwani Ranasinghe, an SLMC registered nurse, left for the United States on Friday, the day on which falls the International Women’s Day.  

“She gets the opportunity to work in the USA according to an agreement signed with Karma Services, LLC, a Michigan, USA- based global health care recruitment provider and the SLBFE,” a spokesman said. The MoU was signed in 2016 for the USA to provide job opportunities for more than 3,000 local nurses in US hospitals.

The Bureau said it has launched this job programme for the first time and another 25 qualified individuals are being trained for nursing jobs in the United States. The SLBFE said Sri Lankans who get the opportunity to work in the United States, receive a monthly salary of US $ 5,000 and would able to take their family to the USA. The SLBFE said to qualify to work in a US hospital, an applicant needs to have two years of experience as a nurse and should be working at present.