MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has lifted the temporary deployment ban on nurses and other medical workers, according to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
In a radio interview on Saturday, Bello said the country’s chief executive has allowed newly-hired Filipinos or those with contracts in the medical sector to go abroad.
“The President has ordered the lifting of the temporary suspension deployment in nurses and other medical workers. The ambassadors of Germany, the United Kingdom, and Italy have been requesting for that because they badly need our nurses,” Bello said.
“Not only those with contracts are allowed to report to their work abroad, but also new applicants. All of them, they are allowed to leave,” he added.
According to Bello, those covered by the lifting of the deployment ban are nurses, medical workers, doctors, dentists, among others.
“Only 5,000 Filipino workers in the medical sector are allowed to go abroad annually but it is still subject to further assessment,” Bello said. “Filipinos are the most sought after medical workers in the world.”
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of the Emerging Infectious Diseases last week recommended the lifting of the ban.
President Duterte earlier suspended the deployment of nurses to ensure that the country will have enough medical workers in case the coronavirus situation worsens./PN
