By Prince Golez
The Philippines became “a victim of our own success” during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Marcos Jr. said many world leaders asked for the country’s help to deploy more Filipino nurses and medical practitioners abroad.
But, Department of Health (DOH) has already some plans on how to resolve the problem, he told the members of the Business Executives for National Security (BENS) in Malacañang.
The BENS, which is a 10-member business group in the United States and founded in 1982, is currently in the Philippines until Thursday to discuss with Filipino leaders potential areas for investment and cooperation in the country.
“Unfortunately, in terms of healthcare workers, we have become victims of our own success in that the Filipinos did really well during the pandemic. And so every leader I meet says ‘can we have more Filipino med techs, doctors, and nurses?’ So we’re having a shortage here,” the President said.
“So we are trying to find schemes so as to alleviate that problem. One of the things our DOH has come up with is that we are coming to an arrangement with countries who will accept Filipino healthcare workers to at the same time train the equivalent number of healthcare workers that will stay in the Philippines,” he added.
Marcos Jr. said the government is also trying to accelerate the board examinations of nurses “so we can actually put out more.”
“That’s the adjustment that we are trying to make. So it’s not only in the facilities, it’s also in the training. We are very proud of them but we wish they’d stay home.”
Also, the Chief Executive Jr. told the BENS that his administration aims to build more hospitals in the far-flung areas.
“We are groundbreaking a big multi-specialty hospital just outside Manila soon and we are going to open more of them as annexes hospitals,” he said.
“I’m always been a great believer of bringing healthcare down to the grassroots level. Right now, there is a tendency for us to only go to the hospital when it is absolutely necessary. So healthcare has become an important part of this administration efforts,” added Marcos Jr.
