The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) will propose to raise the deployment cap for healthcare workers to 7,500 due to the relaxation of the COVID-19 protocols in other countries and the sufficient number of healthcare workers in the country.
At the Laging Handa public briefing on Thursday, POEA administrator Bernard Olalia said that more than 2,000 nurses were sent abroad from January to May this year.
“Dahil inaasahan natin na nagluluwag na ‘yung protocols at tayo naman ay may supply na ng nurses dahil ang PRC ay nakapag-administer na ng nursing licensure examination last year at saka ngayong taon na ito at may dagdag tayong registered nurses, maaari nating irekomenda sa Mission Critical Skills at doon sa technical group, sa IATF na pwedeng iangat na, increase natin ‘yung deployment cap na 7,500,” the official said.
(Because we hope that the protocols are relaxed and we already have a supply of nurses because the PRC already administered the nursing licensure examination last year and then this year and we have more registered nurses, we can recommend to the Mission Critical Skills and in the technical group, in the IATF that can be raised, let’s increase the deployment cap to 7,500.)
“Dahil sigurado po pagdating ng katapusan ng 2022 mabi-breach ang 7,500. Dahil sa ngayon mahigit 2,000 na ang nade-deploy,” said Olalia.
(Because it is inevitable that by the end of 2022, 7,500 will be breached. So far, more than 2,000 have been deployed.)
POEA wants to raise deployment cap on healthcare workers to 7,500
Meanwhile, Olalia said the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE have already addressed the long queue of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) applying for overseas employment certificates (OEC).
“Kaya po nagkaroon ng pila, kasi ‘yung usual na 200 to 300 aplikante na nagpapa-verify kada araw ay lumobo at naging hindi bababa ng 800 na nag-apply sa mga nasabing lugar,” said the POEA official.
(So there was a queue because the usual 200 to 300 applicants who verify every day swelled and became at least 800 who applied in the said areas.)
One of the solutions that POLO has come up with in Dubai is implementing an appointment system.