The Philippines should work to build an environment that will make its health care workers stay rather than leave, Vice President and opposition leader Leni Robredo said on Sunday.
Robredo was reacting to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello’s request for vaccines from the United Kingdom and Germany in exchange for the deployment of more nurses there.
The vice president raised how it is disheartening for government officials to treat Filipino nurses as commodities.
“Medyo nakakalungkot ‘yun kasi parang ganoon na ba tayo ka-desperate, na alam ko desperate na tayo for vaccine pero huwag naman at the expense of our workers, di ba (It’s sad because are we that desperate? I know we are desperate for a vaccine but not at the expense of our workers),” Robredo said during her weekly radio show, “BISErbisyong Leni.”
Fortunately, both countries already said they will not enter into an agreement that will send Filipino nurses in exchange for COVID-19 jabs.
Various health workers’ groups criticized Bello over the week over his offer to deploy more nurses to the United Kingdom and Germany in exchange for COVID-19 vaccines.
This was after British Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce requested to hire more Filipino nurses because of the pandemic. The Philippine government has set a 5,000-cap on the number of nurses who can be deployed overseas due to the outbreak of the pandemic.
Germany made a similar request to hire more Filipino nurses, but Bello said he hasn’t talked to the German ambassador in Manila yet.
“Our target should be to improve the environment here for our health workers so they won’t need to leave,” Robredo said in Filipino.
Although a lot of people agree that health workers are the “heroes” of the pandemic, Robredo asked how the government is treating them.
If the government is recognizing their sacrifices, it should protect them with just compensation and addressing their other needs.
“We should look at how we are treating them, so they don’t need to leave,” the vice president said.
“Our gratitude to them should not only be in words. We should let them feel we are grateful. They will feel such gratitude if we take care of their needs,” Robredo noted.