Nurses from the Philippines are in demand around the world. When it comes to local health care, the Philippine Nurses Association of Hawaiʻi has been part of the picture for more than twenty years.
The top health official in the Philippines says it's a priority to improve working conditions for nurses in his country.
Health Secretary Ted Herbosa told a Manila gathering Monday that most nurses would choose to stay in the Philippines if they could receive a competitive salary.
Groups from the International Council of Nurses to the World Health Organization expect the global shortage of nurses to persist well into the next decade, at the very least.
Nurses from the Philippines have helped fill gaps in health care for decades — a practice that continues today.
Their contributions to England’s National Health Service are highlighted by a new traveling museum exhibit marking the 75th anniversary of the NHS.
The Guardian quotes British government figures showing that more than one in five national health care workers in England who died in the COVID-19 pandemic were from the Philippines.
Back in the Philippines, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives has called for salary increases of nearly a third for nurses working in domestic hospitals.
Health Secretary Herbosa said keeping nurses in the Philippines is not just a matter of money.
He said Monday that attention to work-life balance is also needed to, in his words, “fight the brain drain to other countries.”
