CHED creating master plan to address lack of healthcare workers

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is developing a three-year intervention program to increase the number of graduates who will pursue jobs in the medical profession and eventually address the lack of healthcare workers in the Philippines, the agency said Tuesday.

In an ambush interview, CHED Chairperson Prospero "Popoy" de Vera III said that the commission was set to present to President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos on Wednesday its master plan on the matter, based on assessments with industry experts.

"From the hospitals, from industry, they're saying that the next batch na kukulangin na tayo includes physical therapy, MedTech (medical technology), radiologic technology, and occupational [therapy]... 'Yun 'yung kukulangin na daw," de Vera said.

(From the hospitals, from industry, they're saying that the next batch which will be lacking includes graduates of physical therapy, MedTech (medical technology), radiologic technology, and occupational therapy... We will have a shortage of those workers.)

"It's not as bad as nursing right now. So we have a little bit more time to prepare. So we are preparing a three-year intervention program that we will present to the President on how to increase the number, how to incentivize that they stay here, etcetera," he added.

The migration of Filipino healthcare workers, particularly nurses, for better paying jobs overseas remains to be a challenge for the government.

Last May, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said a total of 190,000 healthcare workers were needed to fill the gaps in the Philippine healthcare system.

For nursing graduates, De Vera said CHED would be offering fully funded review classes for 500 graduates who wish to take the Philippine Nurses Licensure Examination.

"For nurses, 51% of all registered nurses are practicing their professions overseas. So 49% na lang ang nandito, hindi pa lahat nurse," he told reporters.

"Out of the 49%, about 25% are in hospitals. The remaining are in call centers. Nursing graduates are in call centers because mas mataas daw sweldo sa [they get higher salary in] call center na [if they have] nursing background mo because of medical transcriptions."

The lack of healthcare workers in the Philippines is a "major roadblock" in making Filipinos among the healthiest people in Asia by 2040, according to Dr. Adriel Pizarra, a medical officer from the Department of Health's (DOH) Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau.

He lamented that the government has a lot of programs it wishes to implement to achieve its long-term goal, but there are not enough nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers in the country to make them possible. — VDV, GMA Integrated News