Thailand seen as regional hub for nurses, accountants

At a seminar yesterday entitled “Opportunities and Challenges for Nurses and Accountants as Migration Workers for the Asean Community”, former director of Chulalongkorn University’s education faculty Pruet Siribanpitak said Thailand could provide professionals from these two sectors to Asean as it has good, international standard education. 

Students hoping to work overseas could also learn the language of the Asean nation they wanted to move to, he suggested. 

Pruet called on the Office of the Higher Education Commission and professional associations to focus on quality control to help prepare professionals for the rest of Asean. 

Sineenart Sermcheep, a researcher from the International Institute for Trade and Development (ITD), said according to statistics released by the Asean Federation of Accountants (AFA), Thailand has the highest number of professionals in this sector. 

The Kingdom has the highest number of accountant graduating every year, and there is a growing need for such professionals in other Asean countries. 

Auditors were also much needed overseas and the testing standard of Certified Public Accountants in Thailand was close to international standard, she said. 

However, most Thais do not like working overseas due to the lack of language skills and family concerns, she said. 

Yupin Aungsuroch, a researcher from ITD, pointed out that the number of foreign patients in Thailand had risen from 500,000 in 2001 to 2.5 million last year. 

However, Thai nurses still suffer from too much work and very low pay, she said, adding that most nurses in Thailand hope to work overseas, but not necessarily in Asean countries.