Shortage of doctors seen to ease — PRC

MANILA, Philippines — The shortage of medical workers in the country is seen to slightly ease in the coming days with the addition of newly licensed physicians, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) reported.

It said a total of 1,421 aspiring doctors recently took Part II of the March 2020 Physician Licensure Examination (PLE) in different venues nationwide.

“As the results will soon be released after completing the necessary processes, passers will surely augment the shortage of healthcare professionals attending COVID-19 cases in the country,” the PRC said in a statement.

“While the health crisis has forced PRC to make crucial decisions as regards licensure examinations, it will remain faithful to its mission to deliberately, scientifically and consistently determine the competence of professionals such as those who will be called Medical Doctors,” it added.

Due to the pandemic, the Commission previously suspended the licensure examinations for different professions, including physicians. However, the PLE was conducted in response to the call of the Department of Health (DOH) for additional doctors during the pandemic.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) granted the PRC exemption from the imposed community quarantine restrictions on mass gathering. It stressed that the conduct of the examination was held under observance of strict protocols.

As this developed, recruitment agencies are pushing for the lifting of the ban on deployment of Filipino healthcare workers abroad as different destinations are opening doors on the hiring of foreign workers.

Recruitment officials said Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman are now hiring foreign workers, but the deployment ban prevents Filipinos from filling vacancies in those countries. They also complained of the slow processing of the required documents at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).

The country would not be able to recover from the slump in overseas employment unless the government reverses the current policies and procedures, they claimed.