A love letter to our nurses

IFeel bad that our government is preventing some of our nurses from leaving to work in countries where a more advanced healthcare system has led to a much better control of the Covid-19. our Constitution speaks about the promotion of employment, not its prevention. Yet, here we are at an impasse. Your foreign employers are waiting for you, but my guess is, not for long. Meanwhile, the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of emerging Infectious Diseases wants you to stay as medical reservists, in case of another surge in cases.

There is nothing wrong or malicious about the IATF’S sentiments. I am sure that their collective desire to keep you home is more because of the unpredictability of the virus, and the limitations of our own health care system. I do have a problem about this State-imposed “deployment ban” being indefinite. Labor markets do march on, and foreign employers —especially those managing worldclass hospitals—can easily turn to other countries to source their manpower needs. It would help a lot if our licensed recruitment agencies and labor attaches are given guidance as to the conditions that would lead to the gradual or calibrated lifting of this

The State should promote employment, not get in the way of it. The IATF and the POEA should consider allowing overseas employment in countries that have managed to flatten the curve for the longest period of time, limiting the approval of job orders first and foremost to companies with a proven track record of caring for our OFWS. The “new normal” is up to us to design, in a way that would enable more of our citizens to thrive and flourish, here and overseas.

deployment ban. It would help a lot if both the government and private sector can agree on the parameters or indicators that would signal the reopening of overseas employment.

As a cancer patient, I would prefer that the best of you, dear nurses, stay. But, I understand that you have families to feed, and dreams to pursue. You did not build your careers overnight. Aside from spending so much on your education, you also had to endure long hours as an intern, prior to employment as severely underpaid nurses. Although government pay has since been increased, some private hospitals have not been as generous. Yet, you keep your uniform immaculately white, and give patients the cheerful bedside support that they need.

Government needs to prove its worth as your employer. And so do all the private hospitals and clinics. They cannot simply say we have thousands of jobs waiting for our nurses and leave it to each one of you to discover where these jobs are. On the other hand, you have concrete offers from overseas from well-known hospitals that offer much better pay for a fixed contract that assures you of at least two to three years of financial stability.

In the real world, an applicant that has the best credentials is offered the highest pay. Isn’t that the case for any profession? Why would

this be any different for our nurses?

I propose that the IATF through Department of Labor and employment opens a jobs portal specifically for our nurses. The jobs portal will have an updated list of all vacancies for nurses, with the following information: location, number of hours

of work, compensation, hazard pay, qualifications, and details on how to apply. This way, all the announcements on available jobs with attractive pay are presented for everyone to see. You then give our nurses a clearer option—to work abroad or to stay where the family is.

I also propose this: that hospitals, both private and public, be given every opportunity to transform themselves into training institutions with

subsidies from the national government. This way, nursing graduates with little or no experience will have an easier time gaining the proper skills as part of an ever-growing manpower pool of health workers. We need to keep replenishing our manpower pool for health care needs because our population keeps growing, and ailments never cease.

For the State to simply say don’t leave because we don’t know when

you’ll be needed here, works from the assumption of fear, not hope. Why not begin the dialogue this way: “We need you here. But we also know that you have jobs waiting for you abroad. So here’s the deal. Can you stay here for at least three to six months more? That would give us the time needed to make sure our health care system and Covid-19 protocols are working at its optimum levels. What do you think?”

The State should promote employment, not get in the way of it. The IATF and the POEA should consider allowing overseas employment in countries that have managed to flatten the curve for the longest period of time, limiting the approval of job orders first and foremost to companies with a proven track record of caring for our OFWS. The “new normal” is up to us to design, in a way that would enable more of our citizens to thrive

and flourish, here and overseas.

Ultimately, our own economy will also thrive and flourish as we allow more workers to seek employment in countries that have been more successful than us in dealing with this virus. A more scientific and healthcentric approach to overseas employment is in order; but at least we offer some of these more in-demand professional workers a fighting chance out of poverty.