Senator Nancy Binay appealed to Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and the country’s COVID-19 task force to lift the deployment ban on healthcare workers.
“Sana maunawaan din ng POEA at ng [COVID-19 task force] ang kalagayan ng ating mga nurse na ‘di lang naman sila full-time sa ospital. Sa totoo lang, mas mabigat ang pressure kung paano maitatawid ang kanilang mga pamilya sa gitna ng pandemya. Yung travel ban hostages their chance to have a decent work-life balance and give their families a better future,” she said.
Last Monday, the COVID-19 task force reinforced the deployment as prescribed under Resolution No. 64 of the interagency task force for the management of emerging infectious diseases (IATF).
“Even if our health workers go abroad, they will leave loved ones here. Hopefully, they consider that. No one will attend to their families if needed. I hope that convinces them,” Roque said during a virtual briefing on Thursday.
“Our healthcare workers wouldn’t want to work in another country if their salaries here were sufficient. There’s a pandemic, who would want to be away from their families a time like this?” Binay argued in Filipino.
“For healthcare workers, the struggle to survive is real in the midst of risks and trying to feed a family,” she added.
Binay wants gov’t to lift deployment ban on healthcare workers
Binay said should the government maintains the deployment ban, then it should ensure that healthcare workers in the country get competitive salaries.
The senator added that the Department of Health which showed that there are more than 750,000 licensed medical professionals in the Philippines, “including dentists, med technologists, pharmacists, physicians, and midwives.”
“Of this number, only 204,437 are active in the health sector, meaning more than 500,000 licensed medical professionals are not practicing their craft,” Binay said.
“Kung hindi kaya ng pamahalaan na mabigyan ng trabaho at sapat na benepisyo ang ating mga healthcare workers, hindi naman ata tama na pagkaitan natin sila ng pagkakataon para mabigyan ng magandang buhay ang kanilang pamilya,” Binay said.
According to The Culture Trip, 25% of the 2.2 million Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are serving as healthcare workers.