Hyderabad: After software professionals, it''s time for nurses to head for the US.

An ageing population that increasingly requires trained medical care, coupled with a shortage of experienced medical professionals in the US, is leading US healthcare companies to head towards developing companies (preferably English-speaking), looking for experienced and trained medical staff.

According to studies done in the US, people over 85 are the fastest-growing segment of the US population. Baby-boomers of the sixties are on the verge of retirement and will become eligible for medicare in 2011.

Also, nurses are ageing along with the rest of the population with the average nurse in the US being in her late forties or early fifties. Plus, with employment opportunities in other fields becoming more attractive in the US, fewer women are entering the nursing profession with the result that there is an acute shortage of trained medical staff.

The shortage of trained nurses alone in the US will be of the order of 450,000 in two years and over 1 million by 2010. While Indian nurses have been heading for the UK soon they may also begin heading for the US.

Two companies — United Church Homes (UCH) in the US and Heritage Hospitals in India — are making a beginning in organising the training and equipping of Indian nurses to take up nursing jobs in the US. They have entered into memorandums of understanding to form two legal entities, UCH Heritage Healthcare (USA) Inc and UCH Heritage Healthcare India.

M Gangadharan, who heads the Hyderabad-based Heritage Hospitals, says: "The shortage of medical professionals in the US can be made up by medical professionals from India as we have a large number of qualified nurses who have substantial clinical experience and are held in high regard the world over. "It will be an excellent opportunity for Indian nurses who are ably qualified to better their prospects."

Brian Allen, the president of United Church Homes, says: "The US medical profession has recognised the excellent services being rendered by the Indian nurses and preferred them to those from other countries."

The sole purpose of UCH Heritage Healthcare India will be to provide nurses intensive training for the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) certification, proficiency in English and familiarisation with US health standards and requirements.

On the successful completion of the qualifying examination the nurses will be assisted in processing their Green Card applications while their placement at various hospitals in the US will be taken care of by UCH, USA.

Gangadharan, called Ganga by his American JV partners, says UCH India will not charge any fee from the nurses it trains for various mandatory examinations in the US. The company''s profit will instead come from the placement fee it charges the US hospitals that employ the nurses trained by UCH.

The company does not plan to take in more than 10 people in each batch; this is to ensure high-quality training and individualised attention to the trainees. According to Gangadharan on the successful completion of the examination, the nurses will be assisted in processing their Green Card applications, which will be taken care of by the US venture.

In what would undoubtedly be music to ears of aspiring nursing professionals Allen says: "Unlike in the case of IT professionals, the nurses will be granted Green Cards for employment in the US and not an H1B visas, which is normally given to software professionals, and UCH US will take care of this."

He further adds: "The nurses who will be on contract with the company for at least two-to-three years will be paid on par with their US colleagues and will be employed as per US standards of employment."

Says Gangadharan: "There are a large number of well-educated and trained nurses in India who unfortunately are not able to better their prospects due to lack of resources. Given time I am sure that many will see this as an opportunity to improve their future."

As to the future prospects of the venture he is confident that "in a few years down the line, UCH will be sending more than 1,000 nurses for placement in the US annually." The company''s future plans are to fan out to more cities in India and tap the nursing talent there.