MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has allowed the deployment of more healthcare professionals abroad, his spokesperson Harry Roque said.
Filipino health workers who have secured contracts abroad as of Aug. 31 would be allowed to leave the Philippines, Roque said in a virtual press conference on Monday.
“‘Yung mga health professionals na kumpleto po ang documentation as of Aug. 31, 2020 pinayagan na po kayo ni Presidente makaalis para sa inyong mga trabaho abroad,” Roque said.
The Palace spokesperson added that based on the Department of Labor and Employment data, some 1,500 health workers are expected to benefit from the easing of the deployment ban.
Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier advocated expanding the exemption from the overseas deployment ban to include nurses and health workers with signed contracts as of last month.
Prior to Duterte’s order, only healthcare employees who have government-issued overseas employment certificates and verified work contracts as of March 8, 2020 were exempted from the temporary deployment ban on medical and allied health workers.
A resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases previously suspended the overseas deployment of health workers during the pandemic “considering the continuing state of public health emergency.”
The task force, based on the resolution, also urges the Department of Health and government hospitals to hire healthcare workers to augment workforce as the country’s coronavirus cases continue to soar./PN
