House health panel chair opposes DOLE offer of nurses to UK, Germany in exchange for vaccines

Quezon 4th District Representative Angelina "Helen" Tan said she is not in favor of the Department of Labor and Employment's plan to allow more nurses in Britain and Germany in exchange for COVID-19 vaccines.

Tan said DOLE should be aware that the Philippines is also in "great need" of more healthcare workers in this time of health crisis.

"This will mean widening the gaps on health care services. Although we cannot prevent nurses from leaving the country because of better opportunities abroad, still the idea of exchanging them to COVID vaccines is not a good recommendation," Tan, chairperson for the Committee on Health, said in a message Wednesday.

She said the national government should find other ways to gain access to COVID-19 vaccines.

Alice Visperas, director of DOLE's international affairs bureau, earlier said the country was open to lifting the cap in exchange for vaccines from Britain and Germany, which it will use to inoculate outbound workers and hundreds of thousands of Filipino repatriates.

However, it was reported that the Britain's health ministry was not interested in entering into such an agreement.

At present, the national government is imposing the 5,000-cap on overseas deployment of healthcare workers.

For her part, Gabriela part-ylist Representative Arlene Brosas denounced the offer of the Philippine government to the two countries, describing it as a desperate attempt to patch up its incompetence in securing vaccines for Filipinos, including overseas Filipino workers.

"We should not even have to negotiate this way in the bid to acquire COVID-19 vaccines. Bakit kailangang i-barter ang mas malaking nurse deployment para sa bakuna sa ating mga OFWs? Why should it be at the risk of exporting more nurses to countries with steep cases of the deadly viral infection?" she said.

This only shows that there is no concrete plan yet on the vaccination of OFWs, according to Brosas.

"This is another proof of the administration’s gross failure to secure vaccines ahead of schedule,” she said, adding that the DOLE must rethink its offer to Britain and Germany.

'Leverage'

On the other hand, House Minority Leader Joseph Stephen Paduano said DOLE's plan is not a move of "selling" healthcare workers but a "leverage" for vaccine resources.

He noted that the agency's offer should instead be praised.

"It's wrong to accuse (DOLE Secretary Silvestre) Bello of selling our frontliners because his action is for the benefit of the OFWs," Paduano said in a statement.

"In this time of difficulty when the supply of the needed vaccines are hard to find, we need to leverage our resources to our advantage," he said.

"Walang masama sa ginawa ni Sec. Bello. He is actually helping the government produce the much needed vaccines to protect our people," he said.

Meanwhile, TUCP party-list Representative Raymond Mendoza, chairman of the Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, said DOLE should consult with healthcare workers and labor organizations "to avoid the fear that they are being commoditized and traded in exchange for vaccines."

"DOLE must ensure that deployment remains voluntary and that the healthcare workers freely enter into terms of employment which now should address the issues of enhanced pay and compensation and additional incentives and protective or supportive measures in the face of increased risks," Mendoza said in a separate message.

"Further, it must be [a] policy that the terms of their employment must be de-linked to the supply by Germany and Britain of vaccines to the Philippines," Mendoza added.

Mendoza said "what DOLE has floated is a Solomonic solution for Britain and Germany to provide the Philippines increased vaccine supply given that their healthcare system is also approaching a crisis as they badly need thousands of healthcare workers to come in." — RSJ, GMA News