POEA resumes deployment of health care workers after lifting of travel ban

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on Monday announced that it will resume the deployment of the nation’s health care workers.

“[P]apayagan na ng POEA na makapag proseso at ma-deploy ang mga natengga na HCWs (health care workers) lalung-lalo na po ang ating nurses,” POEA Administrator Bernard Olalia said in an online media briefing.

(POEA is now allowing the processing and deployment of our health care workers, especially nurses.)

The announcement came following President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval to lift the deployment ban on nurses and other healthcare workers.

Olalia said applications with contracts dated on or before August 31, 2020 will be processed and deployed immediately. Meanwhile, applications for new or additional accreditation will still be on hold.

However, as mentioned in the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force) resolution, only 5,000 healthcare workers will be deployed every year.

The administrator clarified that they are still waiting for a copy of the resolution to determine which sectors are affected by the 5,000 deployment cap.

“Inaantay pa po namin ang IATF resolution kung ano ang condition na nakalagay sa 5k,” he explained.

(We are waiting for the IATF resolution to see what condition is applied for the 5k.)

“Ito ba ay ay patungkol lamang sa private deployment? Kasama ba dito ang deployment sa G to G (government to government),” he added.

(Is the cap only on private deployment? Will it include government to government deployment?)

He also said that the deployment cap can still be adjusted through a recommendation.

According to Olalia, around a thousand health care workers and nurses were deployed per month during the pandemic.

POEA is expecting a rise in numbers of those who will apply and be deployed abroad in the following months.

JE