THE ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has seen our hospitals overwhelmed by the number of infected people, so that convention centers, gyms, arenas, and other available spaces have been transformed into quarantined treatment and monitoring areas, separated from all other patients because of the infectious nature of the virus.
More important than the availability of additional beds and medical equipment such as ventilators is the need for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers. The government is now undertaking a massive emergency hiring of healthcare workers, to relieve those who are now on the frontlines of the war on the coronavirus.
The Department of Health has issued guidelines for the emergency hiring of physicians, nurses, medical technologists, respiratory therapists, radiologic technologists, medical equipment technicians, nursing attendants, administrative aides, and other personnel.
They will augment the work force that has been striving for weeks to handle the still-growing number of virus victims, not only in the principal centers like the Philippine General Hospital, the Lung Center of the Philippines, and the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital, but also in new treatment and monitoring facilities in national and local public hospitals all over the country.
The pandemic has already claimed the lives of many doctors, nurses, and other health workers. The Department of Health (DoH) recently reported that 152 doctors and 63 nurses were among 252 health workers who had contracted the disease. Twelve of them have succumbed to COVID-19.
In the face of these developments, the Bureau of Immigration recently stopped several Filipino nurses at the international airport from returning to their contracted jobs in the United Kingdom, but the Interagency Task Force on the Management of the Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) li ed the travel ban for healthcare workers who already had signed contracts as of March 8.
Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., who had questioned the original decision to stop the departure of the nurses, pointed out that the Philippines has some 450,000 nurses, exceeding the World Health Organization’s ideal ratio of nurses to population. There really was no need to stop the nurses who had contracts in the UK.
President Duterte said he hoped in view of the current health crisis, Filipino nurses and other health workers will be ready to help as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise. The emergency hiring of health workers is now under way. We are certain our many trained nurses and other personnel needed in the frontline hospitals are ready to serve the country at this time when their services are in greatest need.