Germany did not request exemption from nurses deployment cap — DOLE
Nurses wearing protective gear prepare the holding area for possible coronavirus disease cases at the Ospital ng Parañaque along Quirino Avenue in Parañaque City. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES
MANILA, Philippines — The government of Germany did not officially ask for an exemption in the deployment cap for Filipino nurses, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III clarified Wednesday.
“I want to clear the real situation. Germany never asked for an exemption from the deployment cap. I did not officially get a request from them but we were informed they are requesting 15,000 nurses and medical care workers,” he said over ABS-CBN News Channel.
“I did not talk to anybody from Germany. No negotiation, no transaction whatsoever from Germany. However it was the government of the United Kingdom (UK) that formally requested that they be exempted,” he added.
Previously, Bello said both the UK and Germany are seeking an exemption from the 5,000 per year limit on the deployment of Filipino nurses and other health care workers.
The DOLE earlier said it may lift the deployment cap in the UK if the conditions set by the department are met, including the provision of Covid-19 vaccines for healthcare workers to be deployed.
“I have informed our British ambassador na (that) I am inclined to recommend the request for exemption. I said I have to convince the Department of Health and also the Inter-agency Task Force,” Bello said.
“But I said, for me to come up with a recommendation like that, sabi ko (I said) it is better that before we deploy our nurses, it is better na navaccine na sila (they are already vaccinated), that they have been vaccinated for the protection of our nurses and for protection of the people in the UK,” he added.
Bello said he is requesting data on the total number of Filipino nurses from the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA). He said he will consider the number of nurses in recommending to President Rodrigo Duterte the lifting of the deployment cap to the UK, to ensure that the Philippines will still have enough health workforce amid the pandemic.
