A group of about 47 Pakistani nurses is undergoing induction training and will be employed in state hospitals in the coming weeks to help relieve the staff shortage.

“The nurses are being trained and familiarised with our health system,” a Health Ministry spokesman said.

Once the training is completed, the Health Department will decide where to deploy them, depending on the needs of the hospital and the speciality of the nurses.

State hospitals have long been known to be suffering from a serious nursing shortage and are estimated to need between 500 and 700 nurses to ease the burden on the staff. This shortage has led to several industrial disputes with nurses employed in the national health-care system complaining of a rising workload.

The Pakistani nurses undergoing the induction course were among the 250 applicants who responded to a government call for nurses of any nationality made eight months ago. Applications will be received throughout the whole year.

The recruitment process was lengthy because the nurses’ council had to check the applicants’ qualifications and other government departments had to issue work permits and visas, the council had said.