Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 12 (IANS): With Germany having over 1.3 lakh nursing jobs, Kerala-based philanthropic organisations, with presence in both countries, have decided to utilise this opportunity to help financially disadvantaged Indian nurses get placements there.

Speaking to IANS over the phone from Germany, Thomas Vallomtharayil, a key mover of the project and a coordinator between the German and Indian governments for this humanitarian venture, said this year, they expect about 100 Indian nurses to get placements.

"The placements will be offered free after assessing the financial position of the nurses. This is open for BSc nurses and also for general nurses and the first condition is they should have passed A1/A2 or B1/B2 levels of the German language. We are offering free German classes. Those who are having work experience will have an edge," said Vallomtharayil, who hails from Thiruvalla here, but has been in Germany since 1973 and runs a dialysis centre at Castrop-Rauxel, about 70 km from Dusseldorf.

He said at present they have centres (www.germancareacademy.eu) where German is taught to aspiring nurses at Thiruvalla and are opening at Thiruvananthapuram, Bhopal, Bengaluru, Assam and Gurugram shortly.

"If a nurse from India gets a direct job offer from the German government, that nurse will have to spend Rs 3 lakh and if it is through an agent, the rates can be as high as Rs 15 lakh. We will not charge any service charge or agency fee and if necessary, we will support the living expenses when the nurse attends the German language course," added Vallomtharayil.

The participants in this philanthropic activity include charitable organisation Abhayam, the Indo-German Centre for Health Care Sustainability (IGCHS) and the Vallomtharayil family.

Vallomtharayil also pointed out that the A1 and A2 German language courses will be handled by Indian teachers and for the B levels, they will bring in German teachers through online lessons and for an average student, all it requires is 6 months to pass the B levels.

"For conducting the placement interviews, we will be taking the permission of the Ministry of External Affairs. By the end of this year, we expect to give placement for 100 Indian nurses and next year about 500," he added.