AS the country continues to face the (COVID-19) pandemic, the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday said healthcare facilities are in need of over 100,000 medical workers.
“We have a shortage or gap of 106,000 that are needed to man our facilities all over the country, both public and private,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, DOH officer-in-charge, said in a press conference.
“If you talk about shortage in healthcare workers, we have a huge shortage,” she added.
Needed are nurses, physicians, pharmacists, radiologic technologists, medical technicians, occupational and physical therapists, midwives, and dentists.
Vergeire said that in DOH hospitals alone, there is a need for 624 nurses, 1,332 midwives, and 63 dentists, all of which are plantilla government positions.
Vergeire said the shortage in healthcare workers can be attributed to the “migration of healthcare workers.”
She said this is the reason the DOH continues to oppose raising the deployment cap set by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for healthcare workers, which is currently 7,000 a year.
“If we are to be asked, we would like to maintain this cap. We wouldn’t want an increase in the number of HCWs (healthcare workers) to be sent abroad,” said she said.
Vergeire said the DOH is exploring ways to convince healthcare professionals to work locally.
“We are in discussion with the Department of Migrant Workers and the Department of Labor and Employment regarding the possible incentives for healthcare workers for them not to leave the country,” she said.
The DOH also continues to encourage medical professionals to consider working in local health facilities by applying with the DOH.
“We need your help now so that the health facilities in the country will be able to continue their operations,” said Vergeire.
