Annual health care workers’ deployment cap raised to 7K

MANILA – The ceiling on the annual overseas deployment of health care workers (HCWs) has been raised to 7,000 from the current 6,500, Malacañang announced on Friday.

This developed after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) approved Resolution 153 on Thursday, acting Presidential Spokesperson, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles, said in a Palace briefing.

Nograles said nurses with visas expiring on Dec. 31, 2021, will be prioritized for deployment.

“Upon the authority vested to the IATF through Memorandum from the Executive Secretary dated Nov. 20, 2020, the 2021 annual deployment ceiling of new hire health care workers for occupations identified by the Department of Labor and Employment as Mission Critical Skills shall be further increased to 7,000,” Nograles said.

In November, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) temporarily suspended the processing and deployment of HCWs, particularly nurses, as the annual deployment cap of 6,500 has been reached.

The temporary deployment cap seeks to ensure that the country has a sufficient number of HCWs amid the prevailing pandemic.