Unhappy with wages, working conditions, nurses are leaving the country in hundreds every year — bad news for a health care system facing a shortage of nurses

Leeja VR (25) came to Delhi in 2005 from Cochin, Kerala, in the hope of finding work in a good hospital. She joined Mata Chanan Devi, a west Delhi hospital, in 2006 as a ward nurse.

Now, with three years’ experience behind her, she’s migrating abroad for “better salary and better living conditions”.

“A relative is there (in the United Sates),” Leeja said.

“She asked me to come.”

The relative, a cousin, is also a nurse.

Low wages, a heavy workload, bad working conditions and a sense of sometimes not being treated with respect are making Indian nurses migrate to the US, the UK and other countries, in thousands.

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