Gov’t approves deployment of medical graduates for COVID-19 response

The government will tap medical graduates to help combat the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID) in the country. 

In a televised briefing on Tuesday, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said the guidelines for the limited practice of medical graduates prepared by the Department of Health was approved by the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) on Monday.

The special authorizations, however, will only be issued as a “last resort,” Nograles said. 

“Provided, further, that any authorization shall only be effective for the duration of the state of public health emergency in the Philippines unless earlier withdrawn by the IATF upon recommendation of the DOH,” he added. 

Senator Francis Tolentino earlier urged the DOH and the Professional Regulation Commission to allow around 1,500 medical graduates who took the licensure exams last month to practice the profession in light of the COVID-19 emergency. 

Tolentino said the licensure exam should be waived so that the deployment of additional medical workforce to public hospitals may be facilitated immediately. 

The Medical Act of 1959 (Republic Act 2382) allows medical students who have completed the first four years of medical course, graduates of medicine and registered nurses to render services during epidemics or national emergencies upon the authorization of the Secretary of Health without need of a certificate of registration. —KG, GMA News