Global Bidding War Erupts Over Nursing Shortage Left by Covid

The toll of nearly three years of Covid-19 includes millions of nurses broken by punishing hours and low pay, many of whom quit the profession and left hospitals dangerously short of critical staff.

Now with pandemic-related travel restrictions easing, countries from Germany to the United Arab Emirates and Singapore are stepping up efforts to lure foreign nurses and other medical professionals with promises of expedited visas and better pay.

Nursing students during a demonstration inside an operating room at the Asian Breast Center in Makati City, in Manila.

Photographer: Veejay Villafranca/Bloomberg

Second-year nursing student Elaine Nicole Torres, from the Philippines, wants to help fill that gap -- forecast by the International Council of Nurses to widen to 13 million in the ...