PRIVATE nursing schools are flourishing, driven by the steady expansion of the healthcare sector and the opportunities they also provide for employment overseas.

The number of schools offering nursing aide and pharmacy aide certificates has risen more than four-fold in the past year, say sources in the industry.

“When we began offering courses about a year ago there were three private nursing schools in Yangon, but now there are more than 20,” said Daw Khaing Myat Myat Htun, secretary of the Aung Setkyar nursing school in downtown Yangon’s Kyauktada township.

Demand for nursing aide training has seen the Aung Setkyar school open 13 branches throughout the country, including at Lashio, Taunggyi, Mawlamyaing and Magwe.

“And we plan to open more,” said Daw Khaing Myat Myat Htun, adding that most of the school’s students are from Chin and Shan states.

Figures provided by U Kyaw Kyaw Naing, the founder and chairman of the Aung Chan Thar nursing school in Yangon’s Mayangone township, underline the demand for places.

“Even though the number of private nursing schools has risen, we have more students than before; most are from Kayin, Shan and Rakhine states,” he said.
The school was attracting about 20 to 30 students a course when it opened in August last year, but enrolment has risen to about 150 a course, said U Kyaw Kyaw Naing.

Daw Thynn Aye Po, the general secretary of the YWCA, said it received 60 applications for the 30 places available in its 22nd nursing aide course which began in early May.

“We mainly choose girls from needy backgrounds who have not passed 10th Standard,” said Daw Thynn Aye Po, who added that a decline in a number of applicants this year for courses offered by the YWCA was partly due to increased competition.

“We’ve been running this course for a long time, but I notice that there’s been a boom in the number of private nursing schools during the past two or three years,” she said.

Daw Thynn Aye Po said another reason why the YWCA was attracting fewer students than in the past was because its seven-month course was longer than those at other private nursing schools, which range from one month to three months but involve the same number of classroom hours.

“Our course fee is K20,000, much less than the private schools, which charge about K80,000,” she said, adding that many prospective students eager to get into the job market as soon as possible preferred the shorter courses.

Private hospitals and providers of home-based care are the main employers of those who complete the courses, but many are keen to find employment overseas.

Among them is Ma Mo Mo, 22, who qualified for a nursing aide certificate at the YWCA last year and is hoping to find employment in Singapore.

“If I can find work there I will stay for about two years and learn more about nursing and then I will return to Myanmar,” said Ma Mo Mo, who has two friends from her YWCA course working as nursing aides in Singapore.

Higher salaries are the main attraction of working overseas. “I think I could save K400,000 a month if I was working in Singapore,” said Ma Mo Mo. Her parents, farmers at Thanbyuzayat in Mon State, strongly support her decision to seek employment overseas, she said.

Ma Mo Mo has a Bachelor of Chemistry from Yangon University and is among an increasing number of graduates who are opting to train as nursing or pharmacy aides because of the bright job opportunities in the healthcare sector.