PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said Thursday, November 24, that the government may resort to giving out scholarship programs for aspiring nurses and other medical workers as other countries “scramble” to find healthcare professionals.
Under the scholarship program, Marcos said those who will finish their courses will have to first serve in the country for a few years before they will be allowed to work abroad, noting that the government cannot prevent them from leaving the country given the high salary abroad.
“Lahat, nurses. Naghahanap... Everybody that I talk to, especially from the States and from Europe... So the only thing is that the scholarship program, that you know, you can’t hold people back from a better life, from a better living,” the President said during a meeting with representatives of the healthcare cluster of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) in Malacañang.
“But I think it’s fair that if you provide scholarship, that you expect that there are... mag-serbisyo muna sila ng ilang taon. Hindi babayaran ‘yung scholarship eh. They don’t need to pay that,” he added.
For her part, Department of Health officer-in-charge Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they have already started discussions about the matter with the University of the Philippines and other allied healthcare services.
Vergeire said the country will be able to produce more health workers under the program although bearing fruit will take some time.
She said they are also in coordination with the Department of Migrant Workers for the exchange programs with other countries in need of medical workers.
“So in turn, we are going to propose that if we can provide them with these numbers that they need, they [would] provide us also, for example, scholarships for a number of our healthcare workers here,” Vergeire said.
The DMW earlier said they are eyeing to secure deals with other countries to provide funds for scholarships in the Philippines.
Meanwhile, Marcos sought for the strengthening of collaboration between the public and private sectors to improve the country’s health sector.
The PSAC, in response, committed to help the Marcos administration in improving the country’s health system, particularly in strengthening the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
It said they can provide a third-party assessment that will focus on addressing operational gaps in claims filing, membership application, digitalization and actuarial valuation, among others.
The PSAC said they can also work with the Food and Drug Administration to upgrade its systems to obtain accreditation with various international regulatory bodies and raise awareness about the value of generic drugs.
They also pledged commitment to bringing in cheaper medicines and addressing the shortage of nurses.
Among those present in the PSAC healthcare sector group meeting were PSAC Strategic Convenor Sabin Aboitiz, PSAC Healthcare Lead Paolo Maximo Borromeo, Filipino-American molecular biologist and priest Dr. Nicanor Austriaco, Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. CEO Dr. Harish Pillai and Unilab President and CEO Clinton Campos Hess. (SunStar Philippines)