Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III reiterated Friday the ban on deployment of nurses abroad is still on following reports the government has relaxed on the restrictions.

"This is totally untrue," he said of the reports.
"This is to reiterate that the ban is pursuant to the decision of the Inter Agency Task Force (IATF) in order to ensure that the country’s health care requirements are fully met," added Bello.
He said the policy decision was implemented by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) through its Governing Board Resolution No. 9 adopted in April.
Bello warned the public "any overseas deployment of nurses, unless expressly authorised by the POEA, is deemed illegal."
The POEA imposed a deployment ban for selected types of health workers citing the dwindling human resources in local hospitals and medical facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the list are medical doctor/physician, nurse, microbiologist molecular biologist, medical technologist, clinical analyst, respiratory therapist, pharmacist, laboratory technician, X-ray/radiologic technician, nursing assistant/nursing aide, operator of medical equipment, supervisor of health services and personal care, and repairman of medical-hospital equipment.
The Inter-agency Task Force later ordered the exemption of healthcare workers with perfected and signed contracts as of March 8 from the deployment ban.