2 Moroccan clinics in need of 100 Filipino nurses

RABAT – Two clinics in Marrakech wants to hire 100 Filipino nurses, according to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in this Moroccan capital city.

Labor Attaché Dominador Salanga said POLO has sent two memos requesting the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration to allot slots for the North African state.

The request came less than a year since POLO established an office in Morocco.

Previously, Morocco was under the jurisdiction of the labor office attached to the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli, Libya.

“Our nurses have the skills, especially those with prior experience in the Middle East. Our nationals are also known to be neat, caring, and professional nurses,” he told the Philippine News Agency when asked if there was a particular reason why Moroccan health facilities seek Filipino nurses.

Currently, the Philippines has an annual deployment ceiling of 7,000 health care workers (HCWs) based on the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases’ Resolution 153.

“Out of the 7,000 slots, we have to request for 100. Remember, POEA has a special quota for Germany, a special project for nurses under JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) so we deploy nurses, caregivers to Japan. These 6,500 to 7,000 is actually spread out and Saudi Arabia takes the pie on top of their usual recruitment office for nurses,” Salanga said.

POLO Rabat set a qualification standard for nurses who would be allowed to work in Morocco, where French and Arabic are the widely spoken languages.

The official said the nurses must have Level B French language proficiency and two to three years of experience.

“The doctor can speak English but the nurse would be handling a patient so if you have a patient who only speak French or Arabic and you have a Filipina nurse who is a skilled nurse but unable to speak or understand the language, you are handling lives so it can be the cause of injury,” he said.

There are at least 4,600 Filipinos working in Morocco, with majority employed in beauty centers or households.