Society's male nurse grudge

　　Health professionals calling for an increase in the number of male nurses in China are facing an uphill battle in attracting men to the profession, due to a mixture of discrimination and belief that the job is only for women.

Over 300 male nurses from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao gathered in Beijing Wednesday to attend the first forum on male nursing, according to Beijing Nursing Workers' Association.

The forum aims to aid the development of the male nursing profession, especially as male nurses face pressure from society and family. Many are embarrassed to admit they are nurses.　

"The nursing profession has a very low social status, and male nurses' position is even lower," a 39-year-old male nurse, and forum attendee, told the Global Times. The nurse, who did not want to reveal his identity, said that society expects more from men, especially in China.

He has worked for 20 years, but still only makes 4,000 yuan ($634.80) a month, not enough to support his family and his child's education costs.　

He works in a psychiatric hospital, which makes his situation worse compared with other male nurses working in general hospitals.

"The risks involved in our job are even higher, and it is difficult to measure our achievements, but once accidents happen, our mental stress is beyond imagination," he said.

It will be difficult to switch careers, he said, as he is unsure whether he is qualified to do anything else.

Another male nurse, who works in the same psychiatric hospital, graduated in 2006 and also has a low salary.

"Since I've chosen this job, I'll try my best to do it, though I have a lot of pressure," he said, adding that he expects other compensation, such as further training or promotion.　

Statistics from Beijing Municipal Health Bureau show that Beijing has 69,000 registered nurses, among whom only 1,900 are male, accounting for 2.7 percent. They mainly work in the ER, in surgical wards, intensive care unit, and psychiatry.

These figures are "because of people's concepts that nursing is a job for women, and it's just a subsidiary job serving doctors," said Ma Yanming, deputy director of publicity at the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau.

There are only 21,000 male nurses in China among over 2 million nurses, accounting for less than one percent, and that percentage is expected to reach 10 percent in 2020, according to forum figures. Hong Kong fares somewhat better, where 16 percent of nurses are male.

This may be because salaries are much higher. According to website recruit.net, an enrolled psychiatric nurse could expect to earn from HK$17,693-36,368 ($2,281-4,688) in monthly salary, plus bonuses.

A teacher, surnamed Liang, from a nursing school in Beijing told the Global Times that her school, which has 1,800 students, recruited 20 male students in 2009, but there were just a few in 2010, and they do not expect any in the next academic year.　

"There's a need for male nurses, but it is not convenient to educate so few [male] students," she said.

Hospitals the Global Times called said that they do need male nurses, who are more convenient sometimes.

A female psychiatric nurse said that although she works with several male nurses, when she trained, there was only one male among the 100 students.

"We had the same classes and training, nothing different," she said.

While admitting that her male colleagues are very helpful, she admitted that she does not think a male nurse would be a good prospect for marriage. Her husband is a civil servant.

Zhou Zijun, a professor of public health in Peking University, said he understands the nurses' complaints.

"Some people are reluctant to be a nurse because of the hard work, high risks and low pay," Zhou said.

"There's a general shortage of both male and female nurses in China, as well as in other countries, like Canada, the UK and the US," said Zhou.