Expatriate Indian Somy Thomas has won the NMBI board election, making Ireland Indian nurses proud.

Expatriate Indian Somy Thomas has won the NMBI board election, making Ireland Indian nurses proud. 

The election started on September 23 from nine o'clock in the morning and ended today at 12 o'clock in the afternoon.  Somy Thomas was elected to the general nursing section of the 23-member Nursing Board. Somy Thomas, who ran as a candidate for the Irish Nurses and Midwifery Organization (INMO) in the nursing board election, won the election by a large margin. 

Graduated in MSc respiratory nursing, Post graduate Diploma in clinical leadership, Post graduate Diploma in infection prevention & control, Critical care Nursing. She also serves as one of the officers of the INMO North Dublin branch and as the national treasurer of the Migrant Nurses Ireland (MNI) nurses association. Somy Thomas, who has been working in Ireland for 20 years,   has been working for the betterment of nurses, both as a part of Migrant Nurses Ireland and outside, and has been involved in the problems they face and has been making effective support collaborations.

Somy Thomas has till date helped hundreds of nurses on various issues and is actively working to solve their problems. A few months ago, there was a huge delay in getting the delivery work permit for around 800 nurses from India, due to which their IELTS/OET tests expired and they could not get Nursing Board registration. Nurses who faced problems were united and brought their problems to the attention of the nursing board.

Somy Thomas made many recommendations on work permit, work-related issues and adaptation failure and implemented many welcome reforms that were very helpful to new nurses.