UK TV hosts give thumbs up to Filipino health workers

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino health workers on the frontlines in the United Kingdom’s fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were praised by the hosts of television show Good Morning Britain on Tuesday.

Calling them the “unsung heroes,” British broadcaster Piers Morgan thanked the Filipinos working for the British National Health Service (NHS).

Morgan described the Filipino medical workers as “amazing.” He lauded the Filipino nurses working in various UK hospitals, including the Nightingale Hospital London, an emergency medical facility dedicated to patients with COVID-19, and at St. Thompson Hospital in London, where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was admitted for the disease.

“Amazing number of Filipinos working at NHS and unsung heroes like so many. We just want to give them a shoutout for helping everybody right now,” Morgan said. 

“Thank you to all the Filipinos who are here, doing these amazing work and to every other immigrant working at NHS,” he added.

Morgan’s co-host Susanna Reid said the British people are “reliant on their care.”

There are an estimated 200,000 Filipinos in the UK, of which around 21,000 are healthcare workers employed by the NHS and other private hospitals, according to Ambassador Antonio Lagdameo.

Three Filipino health workers reportedly died in the UK while taking care of COVID-19 patients.