Fewer Pinoys taking up nursing

Mayen Jaymalin - The Philippine Star 

February 13, 2023 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the huge demand for healthcare workers (HCWs) abroad, the local recruitment industry yesterday reported a downtrend in the number of Filipinos opting for a nursing degree.

Recruitment leader Lito Soriano observed that fewer Filipino youth are now enrolling in nursing schools because of the prevailing cap in the deployment of HCWs abroad.

Soriano, who owns an agency deploying health workers to Saudi Arabia, said there has been a decline in the number of nurses applying to work since the pandemic as a result of the deployment cap.

“We have been posting on social media job vacancies offering good salaries and numerous benefits for registered nurses, but we have few applicants,” Soriano disclosed.

According to Soriano, there are few applicants because the country is also producing fewer nursing graduates.

Soriano said young Filipinos are discouraged from taking up nursing because of the belief that the deployment cap limits their chances of working abroad.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the government set an annual deployment cap of 7,500 for HCWs to ensure a sufficient supply of nurses in the country.

Citing data from the Professional Regulation Commission, Soriano said a total of 48,686 nursing graduates passed the licensure examination from 2016 to 2022.

The figure he said is insufficient to fill the huge demand for HCWs in the United States, United Kingdom and other European countries.

To curb the downtrend, Soriano urged the government to raise or totally lift the deployment cap.

Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople previously reported that the government is currently studying the possibility of raising the deployment cap for HCWs.