A world-wide demand for nursing and health care staff is impacting Bermuda with the Island's natural charm no longer enough to ensure it can fill its quota of medical professionals.

The problem has been acknowledged by Health Minister Patrice Minors who said a number of initiatives were either underway or being considered to ensure the Island does not suffer an acute nursing shortage.

One change that may soon be implemented is an increase in the length of work permits for guest health care workers to six years to make coming to Bermuda a more attractive and secure proposition.

But with high accommodation and living costs on the Island, and wealthy countries such as the US and those in Western Europe able to tempt medical workers with the promise of larger financial benefits, Mrs. Minors is aware Bermuda has an uphill struggle to hold its own.

Together with Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Kevin Monkman, she recently attended a meeting of the Pan American Health Organisation.

She said: "Other Caribbean nations face similar challenges and one island that has a nursing training programme is having its nurses 'poached' by other countries.

"Here in Bermuda in the past we have been quite successful in recruiting nurses. We know the US has deeper pockets to offer packages to nurses who come over from places like Nigeria and the Philippines."

The Bermuda Hospital Board is aiming to make its remuneration and benefits package for nurses and other medical staff as attractive as possible, said Mrs. Minors.

"We are seeking to extend the work permit time (for guest workers) to six years," said the Health Minister.

"Another area that is getting attention is to re-introduce medical careers as an option for young people. The Bermuda Nursing Council is working with the Bermuda Hospitals Board and Bermuda College in this respect and we are going into the school system and talking about nursing and the diversity of careers the health sector includes."

Scholarships giving financial assistance to some students to allow them to go overseas to complete their training are also aimed at training up Bermudians to fill nursing roles on the Island when they return.

Recognising that some of these new professionals might decide to seek greater fortune in the medical profession overseas, Mrs. Minors said she hoped most would return to fulfil their contract to work a specified time in Bermuda's health care and then opt to stay rather than take their skills elsewhere.

Former King Edward VII Memorial Hospital nurse Golinda Fox, who is now an organiser with the Bermuda Public Services Union, agrees Bermuda is caught up in the scramble for health care workers.

She said: "It's a challenge to attract and keep staff. In the past it was not such a problem. But when the nurses come here the first thing they talk about is the high cost of rent. With the higher rents they find it difficult to save any money ? and a main reason for people to come here for a job is to increase their economic power."

And she echoed the need for young people's perception that nursing is not a profession to aspire to should be altered by recruiters and career advisors visiting schools to promote vocational careers in health care.

"Young people are not seeking nursing as a profession. There needs to be more of a drive to put health care at the forefront. Our population is ageing and our nursing population is ageing, most of our nurses are in their 30s or older," she said.

And Mrs. Fox pointed out that nurses and other health care workers were often educated to the same degree as other professionals, such as accountants, but faced dangers such as infections and yet were paid at a lower level than comparable professions.