ACCORDING to the Professional Regulation Commission, 4,006 examinees out of 4,716 who took September’s licensure examination for physicians passed. Kudos, too, to all new doctors across the country.
But one question all these new doctors must be agonizing is this: Will they work here or find greener pastures abroad?
Good salaries and fringe benefits abroad, higher by many digits from what they get from our local hospitals and rural health units, are magnets to old ones and fresh graduates.
According to the World Health Organization, medical workers are leaving the country at the rate of at least 15,000 a year. This threatens the country’s health infrastructure. The solution is quite simple – increase the salaries and fringe benefits reasonable enough to maintain the dignity of their noble profession.
In truth, the government can well afford to do this if only graft and corruption is minimized if not stopped completely. It has the money. But it is said that 30 to 40 percent of the national budget end up in the deep pockets of thieves.
The Philippines is one of the biggest exporters of labor in the world. Dollar remittances of our overseas workers help keep our economy afloat. Unfortunately, the brain drain adversely affects our nation. We are losing skilled and professional workers such as doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, etc. We are producing thousands of new healthcare professionals each year but we have so few taking care of our sick.
This Filipino Diaspora is also straining the basic fabric of our society. Family ties suffer. There is separation anxiety. Children grow up without their parents around.
This is the big challenge the government must face squarely: convince our professionals to stay behind and serve fellow Filipinos.
Again, the government can well afford to give good salaries and fringe benefits to our professionals…if only graft and corruption is stopped.
