London: Uncertainty prevails over the future of 148 Indian nursing professionals in Britain as NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council) has sought an explanation from them for allegedly resorting to malpractices to clear the OET (Occupational English Test). These nurses appeared for OET at the Chandigarh centre in India after August 2022. Incidentally, a majority of these nurses belong to Kerala.
Serving the notice, NMC has ordered the nurses to explain their position in an online hearing within two weeks, Failure to do so would lead to stringent action, including cancellation of their PIN numbers, warns NMC.
In case the PIN number is cancelled, the nurses would be terminated from their jobs in the UK and could be forced to return to their homeland.
Apart from these 148 nursing professionals in the UK, several others working in the US and Australia have been deceived by unscrupulous OET training organisations and exam centres.
The fraud was exposed after an OET employee posed as a candidate and appeared for the test at the Chandigarh centre. Subsequently, the OET authorities issued a warning to regulators in several countries which consider English proficiency as an eligibility to secure a nursing post, that there was exam malpractice at Chandigarh.
The NMC’s action corroborates posts on social media recently which alleged that certain OET exam centres were deliberately leaking the question papers for money.
After exposing the malpractice, OET authorities identified the 148 nurses currently working in the UK by referring to their names, date of birth and nationality and handed over the data to NMC.
NMC subsequently informed the 148 candidates by e-mail that their OET exam was cancelled and that they would be given one more chance to attempt the test without fees. According to the NMC, another chance was being given considering the possibility that the candidates might have fallen prey to a scam carried out by the training centres.
Last year, NMC had sacked around 500 nurses from Nigeria who secured employment in Britain by fudging the CBT (Computer Based Test). That incident had eroded the credibility of nurses from Nigeria in the UK and there are concerns that a similar fate could be ahead for job aspirants from India.
