DOH needs 25,000 health workers

Following the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Department of Health (DOH) is hiring 25,000 health workers — mostly nurses to address the healthcare needs of the public. And they have until December to apply.

This was revealed by Health

Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial during the Manila Bulletin Hot Seat, a roundtable discussion with Manila Bulletin editors Friday.

“In our 2018 proposal, we included around 19 billion in the budget, hiring around 25,000 new health providers…. Because the recommendation of WHO, you have to have a team at the primary level to address the healthcare needs of the public. And you need around 24 varied healthcare providers for every 10,000 population. Currently, we only have 14,000 for every 10,000 population at the frontline,” Ubial disclosed.

“We’re hiring varied professionals, doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, pharmacists, med-techs, iba-iba ho. But the majority are nurses. Around 22,000 are allocated. Currently we have 15,000 nurse deployment program applicants and hires but in 2018, that will increase to 22,000. About 7,000 increase,” she added.

The agency also increased the slots for doctors.

“For doctors, we are currently hiring around 300, and we will increase that to around 500 by 2018,” she said.

Those who are interested can go to the nearest regional office of the DOH and apply for their desired position.

“They can apply in our regional offices across the country. The hiring period is now up to December. The deployment is January to December next year,” the DOH chief further stated.