POEA suspends deployment of health workers abroad

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has temporarily suspended the deployment of healthcare workers abroad in a bid to ramp up health workforce in the country in time of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.

In its Resolution No. 09, series of 2020, the POEA’s governing board resolved that the deployment of healthcare workers is suspended “until the national state of emergency is lifted and until the COVID-19-related travel restrictions are lifted at the destination countries.”

The move is “to support the national objective of controlling the spread of COVID-19 through the regulation in the deployment of Filipino healthcare workers through mission critical skills (MCS) framework and to prioritize human resource allocation for the national healthcare system at the time of the national state of emergency.”

Covered in the temporary deployment ban are the following:

•     Medical doctor/physician
•     Nurse
•     Microbiologist
•     Molecular biologist
•     Clinical analyst
•     Respiratory therapist
•     Pharmacist
•     Laboratory technician
•     X-ray/radiologic technician
•     Nursing assistant/nursing aid
•     Operator of medical equipment
•     Supervisor of health services and personal care
•     Repairman of medical-hospital equipment

The POEA also suspended the bilateral labor agreements for government-to-government deployment of healthcare workers until the duration of the national state of emergency.

On March 17, President Rodrigo Duterte placed the entire country under a state of calamity for six months, “unless earlier lifted or extended as circumstances may warrant.”

The Section 4(m) of the Republic Act No. 11469 or the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, passed March 24, authorized the President to “engage temporary Human Resource for Health such as medical and allied medical staff to complement or supplement the current health workforce or to man the temporary medical facilities to be established...”

“It is of paramount national interest to ensure that the country shall continue to have, sustain the supply, and prepare sufficient health personnel to meet any further contingencies, especially to replace, substitute or reinforce existing workforce currently employed, deployed or utilized locally,” the POEA said.—AOL, GMA News