POEA to propose increasing 7,500 deployment cap for healthcare workers

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on Thursday said it will propose raising the current 7,500 deployment cap of healthcare workers due to increasing supply of nurses and easing of COVID-19 protocols abroad.

At the Laging Handa public briefing, POEA administrator Bernard Olalia said nurses that were deployed from January to May this year had already reached more than 2,000.

"Dahil inaasahan natin na nagluluwag na 'yung protocols at tayo naman ay may supply na ng nurses dahil ang PRC ay nakapag-administer na ng nursing licensure examination last year at saka ngayong taon na ito at may dagdag tayong registered nurses, maaari nating irekomenda sa Mission Critical Skills at doon sa technical group, sa IATF na pwedeng iangat na, increase natin 'yung deployment cap na 7,500," he said.

(Because we now expect the protocols  to ease further and we already have a supply of nurses since the PRC already administered the nursing licensure examination last year, and this year we have additional registered nurses, we can recommend to the Mission Critical Skills and the IATF's technical group to increase the deployment cap of 7,500.)

"Dahil sigurado po pagdating ng katapusan ng 2022 mabi-breach ang 7,500. Dahil sa ngayon mahigit 2,000 na ang nade-deploy," Olalia added.

(Because it is certain that by the end of 2022, the 7,500 cap will be breached. So far we have deployed more than 2,000 healthcare workers.)

POEA addresses long queues of OFWs in UAE

Meanwhile, Olalia said the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices (POLO) in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, UAE had already addressed the long queues of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) there applying for their overseas employment certificate (OEC).

"Kaya po nagkaroon ng pila, kasi 'yung usual na 200 to 300 aplikante na nagpapa-verify kada araw ay lumobo at naging hindi bababa ng 800 na nag-apply sa mga nasabing lugar," he said.

(There was a long queue because the usual 200 to 300 applicants who fall in line per day for verification swelled and became at least 800 in the said areas.)

Olalia said the POLO in Dubai had already addressed the issue by implementing an appointment system.

Third country hiring

Olalia said the agency continues to address third country hiring, where OFWs who have finished their contracts are applying to other countries without undergoing the right process with the POLO or POEA.

He said those who underwent third country hiring usually become victims of illegal recruitment.

He said the POEA's Anti-Illegal Recruitment Branch (POEA AIRB) is assisting OFWs who were victims of third country hire scam.—AOL, GMA News