Abusing our best

We are spending a bundle on a foreign campaign to say we are sending our best to the world. The originators of the campaign explained that it was intended to boost the morale of our OFWs, notably the nurses. But back home, our government’s policies and the practices of the private sector healthcare industry continue to abuse these nurses, the reason why they are leaving their country.

I received a message from an old colleague, Gilbert Jose, a retired Citibank HR professional who had served in many world capitals and is familiar with hiring practices. Gilbert is bothered by the abusive practice of local hospitals that has been going on for decades.

“Are you aware that nurses have to pay the hospitals to get the required internship for nurses? I don’t know if this is imposed by all hospitals, especially the big ones.

“I sent two children of our driver and manicurista to study nursing. They only went to small schools near their residence. They passed their licensing exam in one go. But they were being charged P20,000 to get an internship.

“They both ended up working in call centers.  One eventually found a nursing job in Singapore without going through an agency.  The other ended up as a supervisor at Google.”

Actually, it got worse. During the pandemic, Duterte prevented our nurses, even those with signed contracts, from leaving supposedly to help fill our gap in the supply of nurses. But most of those nurses stayed home rather than work in government hospitals. Why should they? No one wants to be abused. DOH delayed paying the risk pay benefits government nurses are entitled to get for working during the pandemic.

It is clear that those who take up nursing want to work abroad. Because of the shortage of nurses locally, there are proposals to require them to work here first before being allowed to go abroad. That’s unfair. The government didn’t pay for their education, except for those who studied in state colleges and universities.

Our nurses go abroad because they earn a lot more. According to Sen. Francis Tolentino, his office’s research found that private hospitals in the Philippines pay a monthly salary between P12,000 and P20,000 while the entry level in a public hospital is P33,000. In Europe, nurses can earn between P80,000 to P200,000. It can be higher in the United States, plus the opportunity to bring their families with them.

That nurse featured in the wrap around ad in a London bus is probably not going back to the Philippines and is probably carrying a British passport by now. British royalty, notably King Charles III, have been lavish in expressing appreciation for the services of our nurses, something they don’t get back home.

It is not surprising that data from the Professional Regulatory Commission show that as of March 24, only 53.55 percent of the 951,105 registered nurses in the country are active. In October last year, the DOH estimated that there is a shortage of 106,000 nurses in the country.

Competition for the services of our nurses will continue to be stiff. The US is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age and the need for healthcare grows.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment projections 2021 to 2031, there will be 203,200 openings for RNs each year through 2031, when nurse retirements and workforce exits are factored into the number of nurses needed in the US.

So, keeping our best from leaving is a challenge. If this administration truly wants to show appreciation for our best, advertising in London buses is not the way to do it. As Eliza Doolittle said in My Fair Lady, don’t talk of love… show it.

Stop the oppression of our nurses at home. Pay them decent wages. Don’t exploit them. After they have graduated and passed the board exams, they should be treated as professionals.

However, if as the Tourism Secretary said the tourism campaign would be aligned with that country branding campaign in London, they are doing it wrong. The two campaigns will be confusing when we need just a single simple message.

We have to give prospective visitors good reasons to want to come here… to have fun. The picture of a nurse holding a syringe with a sharp needle is visually strong, but doesn’t suggest fun. It will not make potential visitors think of vacationing in the Philippines.

Jimmy Morelos, a frequent contributor in one of the e-groups I see, related his first visit to Palawan some years ago to explain what we are missing in our tourism promotions campaigns.

“We took three small planes from Air Pacific and landed at a makeshift gravel airport, we then took an hour or two-hour trip to Apulit Island, we passed through so many beautiful small islands with white sand beaches.  I have never seen anything like it.

“I have been to Waikiki Beach, the French Riviera, Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon Beaches in Brazil, beaches in Spain, as well as Phuket in Thailand, and Langkawi Island in Malaysia, but nothing can match the beauty of Palawan, which has been voted the most beautiful island in the world countless times.

“How come we are at the bottom of the deck when it comes to tourism here in Southeast Asia? Thailand got almost 40 million tourists in 2019 while we got only 8.3 million during the same year.  Phuket alone has almost 10 million tourists in 2019, more than what the entire Philippines got during the same year.”

Simple answer: tourism promotion is politicized here. We change campaign themes with each new tourism secretary. And only the late Mon Jimenez got the message right that tourists should come here for more fun.

And the government must take care of our tourism entrepreneurs. Give them development funding. Help them recover from typhoon damage. Let them have tax privileges for importing world class products they need. Without them, we won’t have good facilities to accommodate our visitors.

Our attempt for country branding, be it for OFWs or tourism is flawed. Total waste of money. Story of our lives!

Boo Chanco’s email address is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @boochanco