Maldives nurses to get 15% pay rise

The Maldives Health Ministry Sunday announced a 15 percent pay bump for nurses as part of a new framework for the profession.

In a statement, a copy of which has been seen by the Maldives Independent, the ministry said the framework was to help nurses pursue further education and training through appraisals.

Nurses at publicly owned hospitals and health centres will be appraised every two years based on educational qualifications and performance.

“This framework will empower nurses to pursue further education and training opportunities and the implementation of this framework will raise the average nursing salary by 15 percent,” said the statement.

The new wages take effect this month and those in the most junior national nursing jobs are expected to get a salary of MVR14,000 (US$907), according to the ministry.

Extra allowances for nurses will be cut but the wage increase and a service allowance mean the take-home pay will increase under the framework, a ministry official told local media.

In 2014, a total of 3,828 medical staff were reported to be working in all public health facilities and more than half of these were nurses.