BANGLADESH

South Korea is going to set up a $12 million nursing college in the capital, Dhaka, to help Bangladesh make skilled nurses.

Korean ambassador to Dhaka Taiyoung Cho said on Monday that they are building the college at prime minister Sheikh Hasina's request.

"We will begin the process (of building nursing college) this year," he said at a knowledge-sharing seminar co-organised by KOICA-Bangladesh Alumni Association and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) in the capital.

The ambassador said two female professors of the University of Korea and one 'very senior' nurse of his country had been in Dhaka for the project.

"They are highly qualified and trained from United States and dedicated to help Korea in making nurses.Now they will help Bangladesh," he said, adding they were here to build the college with their expertise.

Later, the ambassador told bdnews24.com that they would expedite the process of setting up the college.

"We hope to complete it by 2013. It may take some more time. But of course it would be completed by 2014."

"The college would be set up in the capital. It's a $12 million project.

"It will be a post-graduate institute for nurses," he said, adding, the college would create trainers for training in the country.

Dr Khaled Shamsul Islam, health ministry's National Focal Point for Human Resources Development welcomed the move.

He told  that the government was trying to narrow down the huge gap in the doctor-nurse ratio.

"Currently, the doctor-nurse ratio is 1:0.48. But it should be 1:3 for Bangladesh, according to WHO," he said.

Bangladesh has nearly 28,000 nurses available in the country, 17,605 of whom are in the government job. An additional 3,000 are in overseas jobs, Dr Islam said.

According to him, six new nursing colleges are on the cards while the government will turn 15 nursing training institutes into nursing colleges 'soon'.

There are 43 nursing training institutes and eight nursing colleges in the country, he said.