A senior Philippine official said on Tuesday that if the United Kingdom and Germany agree to donate some much-needed coronavirus vaccine, the Philippines will let thousands of its medical workers, most of them nurses, take up positions in the United Kingdom and Germany.
According to the report, the Philippines has one of the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Asia.
The country has relaxed the ban on sending medical staff overseas, but the maximum number of medical professionals abroad per year is 5,000.
Alice Visperas, director of the Philippine Department of Labor’s International Affairs, said that the Philippines is open to lifting the ceiling on overseas labor dispatch in exchange for vaccines from the United Kingdom and Germany.
The Philippines will also vaccinate these “exchange” vaccines for outbound workers and hundreds of thousands of Filipino returnees.
Filipino nurses working overseas reportedly provide more than $30 billion in remittances to their hometown every year, which is reported to be vital to the Philippine economy.
