Business World Online
Vol. XVIII, No. 216
Friday, May 27, 2005 MANILA, PHILIPPINES

The Economy

Shortage of medical professionals seen as exodus abroad continues

The Philippines faces a shortage of medical professionals in five years if the government fails to address an exodus to greener pastures abroad, a University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) study showed.

This has prompted newly appointed Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to push through with plans for mandatory government service for medical specialists that graduate from public universities.

"We will compute [how much ] the subsidies that were spent by the government and from there determine how many years they must serve," Mr. Duque said.

He admitted, however, that the government cannot force medical personnel to stay in the Philippines after rendering public service.

"This may be seen as a violation of their rights," he said.

UA&P’s Jay Rupert Calma said more than 100 general and specialist nurses leave government-run Philippine General Hospital annually for abroad because of better pay and a chance to permanently settle in the countries where they work.

"Figures show as much as a 1,300% to 2,900% wage differential if nurses choose to work abroad," Mr. Calma said.

Nurses working in US hospitals earn an average of $4,376 monthly while United Kingdom-based nurses receive about £1,408 each month. The amounts can go higher if they specialize in key hospital areas such as the operating and emergency rooms and others.

The international demand for Filipino nurses is becoming huge that more and more, and even doctors, are resigning from their jobs in local hospitals to be employed abroad, Mr. Calma said.

"Hospitals are already feeling the shortage of nurses right now," he added.

It will be difficult to stem the exodus, Mr. Calma noted.

He also said the government has to improve skill levels, saying "There has been a continuous declining trend in the number of board passers... which indicate the low quality of nursing education."

The lowest ratio of those who passed the nursing licensure examinations was in 2002 where only 45% or 4,228 of the 8,269 examinees passed. The average 48% passing rate experienced up to last year was a result of those who took the examinations again, he added.

"Education officials must put the house in order, particularly those of existing schools. But it must lift the moratorium [on the opening of new nursing schools] since it will disadvantage those who may offer better teaching methods," he said. -- R. M. Balaba