President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. expressed concern over the Philippines facing the consequences of its own success as global leaders seek the assistance of Filipino healthcare workers, resulting in a shortage of medical professionals within the country.
During a meeting with the US-based Business Executives for National Security, Marcos acknowledged that the Filipino healthcare workers performed exceptionally well during the pandemic, leading to increased demand for their services abroad.
“Unfortunately, in terms of health care workers, we have become victims of our own success in that the Filipinos did really well during the pandemic. And so every leader I meet says ‘can we have more Filipino med techs, doctors and nurses?’ So we’re having a shortage here,” said the President.
To address this issue, the Department of Health (DOH) has devised a solution whereby the Philippines will enter into agreements with countries accepting Filipino healthcare workers.
“So we are trying to find schemes so as to alleviate that problem. One of the things our Department of Health (DOH) has come up with is that we are coming to an arrangement with countries who will accept Filipino health care workers to at the same time train the equivalent number of health care workers that will stay in the Philippines,” Marcos said.
While expressing pride in the accomplishments of Filipino healthcare workers, the President expressed his desire for them to stay and contribute to the development of the local healthcare system.
In June, Health Secretary Ted Herbosa announced the DOH's plan to recruit nursing graduates who achieved scores between 70 and 74 percent on the board exam. The passing grade for the exam is 75 percent.
