The Centre of Overseas Labour under the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Osaka Long-Term Medical Care Federation signed an apprentice supply contract for hospital orderlies in Japan at a ceremony in Hanoi on June 12.

Japan has set a target of accepting 10,000 Vietnamese caregivers by the summer of 2020 to address a chronic labour shortage in the nursing sector.

The Department of Overseas Labour under the Ministry of Labour, Invalid and Social Affairs, on April 11, announced the selection of candidates for the second training course on nursing in Germany.

Vietnamese trainee nurses and caregivers, coming to Japan in fiscal 2014 and 2015 under the two countries’ Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), are now allowed to stay an additional year.

Japan’s shortage of workers has offered opportunities for Vietnamese labourers to work in the country. A good working environment together and high wages have helped guest workers improve their lives

Foreign certified professional caregivers, including those from Vietnam will be allowed to work at patients’ homes from April, 2017.