(August 20, 2020) – The Philippines on Thursday reversed an earlier order suspending the deployment of Filipino health care workers with existing contracts abroad, a measure to address the shortage of manpower in the country.
But the high unemployment rate has forced the inter-agency task force (IATF) to allow Filipino health professionals with existing contracts to depart and work abroad.
“Yung mga health professional na merong OEC na issued ng POEA at yung employment contract na verified as of March 8, 2020 ay pwedeng lumabas ng bansa,” said government spokesman Harry Roque.
“Pwede rin pong lumabas ng bansa ang mga balik-manggagawa o yung mga nagbabakasyon lamang sa Pilipinas at matagal na pong nagtatrabaho sa abroad.”
But those without verified documents on or before March 8 would still be affected by the deployment ban.
In April, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) had issued a resolution suspending temporarily the deployment of health care workers abroad to prioritize the national health care system “until the national state of emergency is lifted”.
This included physicians, nurses, microbiologists, molecular biologists, medical technologists, clinical analysts, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, laboratory technicians, x-ray/radiologic technicians, nursing assistants, medical equipment operators, health service supervisors, and medical-hospital equipment technicians.
The order was reiterated in the IATF resolution released on Tuesday, prompting protests from Filipino nurses who said they were overworked and underpaid.
“Hindi siguro masisisi ang mga nurses kung ‘di naman naibibigay ang assurance at kongkretong suporta para sila ay mahikayat,” said Filipino Nurses United Secretary General Jocelyn Andamo in an interview on One News talk show Agenda
More than 70 percent of the country’s health care workers are nurses in government and private hospitals and Filipinos are in demand in hospitals in the US, Canada, Middle East, United Kingdom and in Asia, like Singapore.
Even some doctors work as nurses abroad and many other hospital staff are Filipinos, who attend to COVID patients at home and abroad.
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