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, according to Kyodo News.

Japan first aims to receive 3,000 Vietnamese within one year through an existing training programme for foreigners, Kyodo cited a government official.

Vietnam and Japan are expected to sign an official agreement soon. 

The two countries have been holding talks on bilateral cooperation in the field of nursing care. In June, they agreed to put in place a system to enable more Vietnamese caregivers to work in Japan.

Besides, Japan is considering the recruit of caregivers from other countries, including Indonesia and Cambodia.

Japan’s labour ministry estimates the need for an additional 550,000 caregivers in fiscal 2025 compared to the fiscal 2016 total due to the country’s rapidly aging population.

As an effort to receive more foreign workers in the nursing sector, Japan enacted a new law in November, 2017 to add nursing care to the list of fields in which foreigners can work under a training programme.

The training programme for foreigners was introduced in 1993, aimed at transferring skills to developing countries by training workers who would then return home. -VNA