US Needs More Foreign Nurses and Healthcare Workers to Fight the Covid-19 Pandemic

As the United States facing the mayhem caused by the coronavirus outbreak along with other countries, health care workers are increasingly at the risk of getting infected and even dying. There are reports doing round that soon the country could experience a serious shortages of nurses, doctors, and other frontline healthcare professionals. These workers are extremely crucial to fight the virus outbreak and treat the flood of new patients in the US. 

With the cases of Covid-19 infection continue to rise in the US, a major portion of health care providers are unable to show up in the hospitals because of the quarantine situation in the country. In fact, some of the nurses have themselves caught the infection. This shortage of doctors and nurses has created a greater demand for overseas professionals who wish to work and live in the US as doctors or nurses. 

One possible situation for this overwhelming situation is to hire more foreign skilled workers. The US immigration authorities should now considering bringing in more doctors and nurses from other countries. Additionally, more relaxed visa policies should be there in place to make it easier for them to relocate to the US. 

The US health care sector comprises of 17% of foreign-born healthcare workers. Now, the sector needs more of them to deal with the sprawling pandemic. Considering the current scenario when cities like New York and Washington are engulfed by the coronavirus, these overseas professionals on board will be of great help. 

In response to the covid-19 outbreak, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs plans to increase the inflow of more health care workers into the country. The department has also posted the same on the website requesting more medical personnel to check with their nearest embassy or consulate to learn about the visa process. Although, the Department of State has suspended all routine visa services due to coronavirus, the department has indicated that its embassies and consulates will continue to provide all emergency and mission-critical services.