LABOR Secretary Silvestre Bello III yesterday said he is set to consult other members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to determine the possibility of further increasing the annual healthcare worker deployment cap in the country.
In an online press briefing, Bello said he will hold talks with the Professional Regulation Commission, Philippine Nurses Association, and Department of Health to discuss the availability of healthcare workers in the country amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“We will still need to consult them so that we will know if it is still safe to deploy our nurses and healthcare workers overseas,” said Bello. “If they say it’s okay, then we can adjust the ceiling maybe by another 1,500.”
“We still need to ensure that if we allow more deployment of healthcare workers, we will not run out of people that will help us in our needs,” said DOLE spokesman Rolly Francia.
