Bello not inclined to recommend Germany’s exemption from nurses deployment cap

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III is not inclined to recommend the exemption of Germany from the 5,000 per year deployment cap for Filipino nurses and other health care workers.

According to Bello, Germany’s request for exemption is currently pending and is being studied by a technical working group (TWG) composed of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Health (DOH), Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

“If you ask me right now… mukhang I am inclined not to recommend ‘yung exemption nila, kasi ang findings ng TWG, this is between DOH, DOLE, POEA, and OWWA, parang ang kanilang assessment is that we are already running out of nurses and healthcare workers,” Bello said in an online media forum on Wednesday.

(If you ask me right now… I am not inclined to recommend their request for exemption, because the findings of the TWG composed of the DOH, DOLE, POEA, and OWWA indicate that we are already running out of nurses and healthcare workers.)

“Our technical working group is studying [their request] and then we will find out kung ano ang magiging decision ng IATF,” he added.

(Our technical working group is studying their request and then we will find out what will be the decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.)

Bello said he wasn’t sure about the number of Filipino nurses that Germany wants to hire, but noted that previously, they have requested the deployment of some 15,000 health workers.

According to Bello, over 3,000 medical workers have already been deployed to other countries this year.

The United Kingdom has been exempted from the deployment cap following its request to the Philippine government.

JPV