The Labour Department announced today (March 1) that the Government will relax some of the requirements for the nursing industry to import care workers through the Supplementary Labour Scheme with immediate effect for a period of three months until May 31.
A spokesman for the Labour Department said that under the impact of the fifth wave of the epidemic, hundreds of residential care homes for the elderly and residential care homes for the disabled in Hong Kong have so far had confirmed cases, and the demand for nursing services has surged. The epidemic has made the front-line staff even tighter.
In order to alleviate the severe challenge of manpower shortage in the nursing industry, the Government has decided to allow the industry to omit the step of conducting local recruitment for 4 weeks under the plan during the above-mentioned three-month period, flexibly approve the number of imported nursing staff according to the needs of residential care homes, and Temporary arrangements for consultation with the Labour Advisory Committee on each application to expedite approval to address urgent needs. In addition, subsidized residential homes can also apply for the entry of care workers in accordance with the same regulations. All applicant homes are still subject to other program requirements.