Severely understaffed public hospitals in New South Wales (NSW) Australia are recruiting nurses from overseas, with nurses at Sydney public hospitals being begged to cancel their New Year’s leave amid a surge in COVID-19 cases across the state. St. George Hospital in South Sydney sent an email to its nursing staff, pleading with them to cancel their leave at the end of 2021, as staffing pressures soared due to increased numbers of patients and staff currently undergoing quarantine, the Guardian Australia reported. “We have commenced the process for overseas recruitment,” the email said, noting that the hospital’s departments were facing “unprecedented” patient numbers and that they were going to reopen their second COVID-19 ward. The hospital management has previously sought help from seven local nursing and midwifery labour agencies but only managed recruited one registered nurse. It has also turned to private hospitals and withdrawn seconded staff, yet was still …