Palestinian women nurses in Lebanon: caught between hurdles|| Newspapers (Arabic)

The Palestinian Right to Work Coalition organised a round table discussion on the realities of Palestinian women and men nurses in Lebanon.  The aim of this activity was to highlight the hurdles that Palestinian nurses face within this sector which was supposed to be legally accessible to them.
Discussions revolved around Palestinians' right to work and the increasing trend for Palestinian nurses to work in the "black market" with no contracts and low wages.  This is essentially caused by the difficulties Palestinian nurses face in securing a work permit issued by the Ministry of Labor.  During the discussion, a study on the situation of Palestinian nurses was presented.
The study which was prepared by Mr. Fathi Kleib of the Massar Institution for Culture and Media highlighted the arbitrary practices in issuing work permits and also provided data indicating the Palestinian nurses often work for UNRWA and the Palestinian Red Crescent as well as within medical practices in the Camp.  Some also work in Lebanese hospitals but without contract or any form of benefits.  
Lawyer Roger Abi Rached, the Nurses Order's legal adviser, indicated that the main hurdles actually lie within the Ministry of Labor whereas the Order of Nurses rejects the idea of setting up a parallel Order for Palestinians.  He also indicated that the Order's by-laws allow for the membership of Palestinian nurses.
This raised questions as to why actually the Ministry of Labour is not issuing work permits while stating that the reason is because of the internal by-laws of the Order of Nurses!