The German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GPCCI) has urged government to lift the deployment cap on the number of Filipino healthcare workers (HCW) heading to Germany after reaching the extended 6,500 deployment cap for nurses last month.
“We appeal that the Philippine government should review the current deployment ban. Many of the HCWs in our business community have signed a working contract and the employers are waiting” said GPCCI president Stefan Schmitz in a statement yesterday.
Germany needs about 50,000 HCWs and the country alone has 2,000 HCWs waiting for deployment.
GPCCI said most of these Filipino HCWs have exerted efforts, time, and costs just to qualify to high standards of their German employers. The group said the deployment cap prevents them from being set out to their assignments.
GPCCI noted the positive economic impact on the Philippine economy of the lifting of the ban in terms of remittances while resolving the unemployment issues of Filipino HCWs.
“The appropriate skills and qualifications of Filipino healthcare workers remain to be the important interest of Germany.” said GPCCI deputy executive director Charlotte Bandelow.
About 500 million euros were remitted to the Philippines by overseas Filipino workers in Germany in 2020.
