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Just like U.K., Japan is recruiting foreign nurses to solve the problem of scarcity of nursing workforce. This is a typical problem for many developed countries with large old population.
In my opinion, Japanese government’s decision was somewhat hasty. Although there are influx of international population in Japan, Japan is still considered to be ‘xenophobic.’ The recruitment of foreign nurses would surely stir some problems such as discrimination. Even the response of Japan Nursing Association was somewhat xenophobic. This problem would not be apparent initially, however, it could be aggravated to diplomatic problem between Japan and the foreign country.
Other than problems of Japanese’ detest of foreign nurses, there is another problem with this decision. Most of the recruitment of foreign nurses were made in developing countries. If Japan recruits all these medical workforce, developing countries might have shortage of medical resource. It would be snatching away doctors and nurses from developing countries which would need the most medical support.
About developing robots to nurse the old population, I think that it is somewhat inhumane. I think that old people should be nursed through social interaction, not with mechanical interaction.
Sang's Economics Blog 