About 1,700 jobs await Filipino nurses in Libya, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said yesterday.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the government would resume deployment as soon as the partial ban has been lifted.

“We are just awaiting the official recommendation from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the full lifting of the deployment ban and as soon as we have it we will resume deployment,” she said.

Baldoz said Libya’s Ministry of Health has already informed the Philippine government of its desire to hire at least 1,000 nurses.

“The Ministry of Health in Libya alone is already needing 1,000 nurses and there are 700 other vacancies in other health facilities,” she said.

Of the 700 vacancies, 300 Filipino nurses have already been recruited and are awaiting the lifting of the ban before they could leave for Libya, Baldoz said.

DOLE previously allowed a partial lifting of the deployment ban to enable rehires to return to work.

The number of Filipino workers in Libya has already surged to 3,000 since the partial lifting of the ban.

Most of the those who have returned were medical workers and those employed in the gas and oil industry. Citing a report from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Libya, employers in Libya have recalled hundreds of Filipino medical professional and other skilled workers, Baldoz said.

Early last year, the government had imposed a deployment ban and since then close to 10,000 Filipino workers have been repatriated from Libya.

Medical workers and those employed in the gas and oil industries comprise the biggest bulk of OFWS in Libya and they are employed by multinational companies, Baldoz said. –