MANILA, Philippines — A leader of a recruitment firm called on the government to review its ban on overseas deployment of healthcare workers, noting that over 500,000 medical professionals in the country are not practicing their professions. ADVERTISEMENTSoriano made this call after Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Thursday that healthcare workers who have secured overseas employment contacts and travel documents before March 8 can leave the country to work abroad but reiterated that the deployment ban will remain in place. Of this number, only 204,437 are active in the health sector, which means 543,495 are not practicing their professions, according to Soriano. He believes that the deployment of health professionals will not affect the healthcare industry since there are still over 240,000 nurses who are not active in the profession. Soriano likewise called for an end of the deployment ban for the new hires as this will only confuse overseas clients who depend on Filipino nurses who are hardworking and highly recognized for their skills.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer August 23, 2020 09:02 UTC