President Duterte hoped the government will be able to recruit more health care workers and allied health workers as the country continued to address the increasing number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, saying the pay is actually "good."
Duterte made the statement after Vaccine Czar Carlito Galvez Jr. reported to him on Wednesday that many hospitals have been suffering from the lack of personnel while the number of people being admitted because of COVID-19 continues to increase.
In his pre-recorded public address aired Thursday morning, September 16, the President thought that they can recruit more health workers to join the government if they think that a good salary is waiting for them.
"Marami niyan (We will be able to recruit many) because the pay is good, actually," he said.
"Kaya baka (That's why I think maybe) we can convince more people to join us in this fight because I think the lure of a good salary is there," he added.
However, the President assured health workers that the government will work on increasing their salaries to get them to stay amid the ongoing crisis and to hire more medical professionals.
"We will see what we can do. We will try to look for the money to have more recruits joining this fight against COVID," he said.
On Monday, it was reported that volunteer doctors at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) decided to not renew their contracts, further emphasizing the institution's staffing crisis.
In response to the situation, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the government is doing its best to speed up the graduation and examination of the country's would-be doctors to address the shortage of manpower in hospitals amid the ongoing pandemic.
"Ang mabuting balita po, marami naman po tayong mga bagong graduates at mga bagong pasang mga nurses (The good news is we have new graduates and newly passed nurses)," he said.
"Pagdating naman po sa mga doktor, yun nga po, ginagawa natin ang lahat para magsipagtapos ang ating mga doktor at magkaroon ng examination para hindi po tayo maubusan ng mga doktor (When it comes to doctor, we are doing everything so they can graduate immediately and take their examination so we won't run out of doctors)," he added.
Roque likewise said that the Department of Health (DOH) continues to recruit medical professionals to address the shortage of human resources in hospitals.