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Furthermore, in Thailand, nurses are required to have registra-

tion or license but in some countries, according to what I have
heard, there is no registration system for nurses. This is one of
the most important challenges that we need to address, and

I think that we, all the countries in our region, need to help
each other. That is the reason why I think that we have to

establish the ASEAN joint coordinating committee on nursing.
This will allow us to work together and help each other.

At the beginning, in Thailand, there are very few nurses

that move to other countries, and there are also very few foreign
nurses who come to work in Thailand. However, there are

some Filipino nurses who come to work in Thailand, but they
do not work as nurses because they need to have a license
under the domestic regulation and the licensing examination

is in Thai. Therefore, when they first come to Thailand, they
may have to work as interpreters.

At present, we agree that if we have to facilitate more
free flow of nurses to come to work in Thailand, we probably
have to offer the licensing exam in English. We have already

planned for that but it is still on the debate. However, the
foreign nurses who want to work in Thailand must be able

to speak Thai because they have to communicate with Thai
patients and most of them cannot speak English.

Policy Forum 51

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