Lebanese nurses are “pearl of nurses in the Arab world”, as per the Health Minister Mohammad Jawad Khalifeh , who was chairing a two-day international conference on the occasion of honoring nurses on International Nurses Day on Thursday.

Conducted every year on the aim of revising the existing professional policies for nurses, the conference pondered over the global issue of addressing the concern of medical health support staff, as they are being considered as a tangible part in sustaining rising health care needs of people across the world.

Attended by galore of health professionals, academics and members of civil society from around the world, Khalifeh cautioned about the imminent challenges to be faced by nursing sector against widening gap between decision makers of health sector and actual work force.

If the group representing 8,600 nurses working in the country, Order of Nurses, is to be believed, Lebanon is expected to face a severe shortage of nurses lest swift action is not being taken to retain health care support staff in the system accounting a major blow to the medical sector.

Moreover, Sameen Siddiqi, the World Health Organization representative in Lebanon, reportedly acknowledged the issues addressed by the conference pertaining to the impact of migration of health sector workers on the overall development of health care sector.