By Katrina Gracia Consebido
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday, Nov. 24, said he is eyeing to grant scholarship programs for medical workers to address the shortage of healthcare professionals in the labor force.
“Lahat, nurses. Naghahanap… Everybody that I talked to, especially from the States and from Europe… So the only thing is that the scholarship program, that you know, you can’t hold people back from a better life, from a better living,” Marcos said.
“But I think it’s fair that if you provide scholarship, that you expect that there are… magserbisyo muna sila ng ilang taon. Hindi babayaran ‘yung scholarship eh. They don’t need to pay that,” he added.
Meanwhile, Department of Health (DOH) Officer-in-Charge Ma. Rosario Vergeire said they have already talked to the deans of the University of the Philippines and other healthcare institutions for the implementation of ladderized scholarship programs.
Vergeire said DOH also had discussions with the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) for exchange programs with other countries that are in need of healthcare professionals.
“So in turn we are going to purpose that if we can provide them with these numbers that they need, they [would] provide us also, for example, scholarships for a number of our healthcare workers here,” Vergeire said.
Vergeire said all graduates of scholarship programs have to stay in the country before seeking a job opportunity abroad.
Moreover, the PSAC vowed to help the government in improving the health system, particularly in strengthening the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation.
Private sectors also committed to tie with the Food and Drugs Administration to upgrade their system and raise awareness on the significance of generic drugs. – gb
