As many as 180 Vietnamese nurses and orderlies are participating in aJapanese language training course which began on December 9 in thenorthern province of Hung Yen, to prepare to work in Japan in2015.

Jointly organised by the Overseas LabourManagement Department under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and SocialAffairs (MoLISA) and the Japanese Embassy in Vietnam, the coursewill last 12 months.

It is organised under acooperative agreement on training nurses and orderlies signed bythe Vietnam Nurses’ Association and Asian Human Power (AHP) ofJapan, under the Vietnam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (VJEPA)signed on December 25, 2008.

Upongraduating from the course, candidates can work in Japanese hospitalsand sanatoriums for three years (for nurses) and four years (fororderlies).

During the time of contracts,they can sit examinations to gain Japan ’s national certificate andif they pass, they can work long-term in the country.

In 2012, about 150 nurses and orderlies were selected to participatein a similar course and they will leave for Japan in February nextyear.

Japan has one of the most rapidlyageing populations in the world. In the next ten years, the country willneed up to 600,000 nurses and nurses’ aides to take care of elderlypeople; hence the great demand to recruit from Vietnam.

Vietnam is the third country after the Philippines andIndonesia to cooperate with Japan in the exchange of nurses andorderlies.

The agreement provides a goodchance for Vietnamese nurses and orderlies to be trained and stationedin a professional overseas working environment, thus improving theirqualifications.-VNA