1-year Philippine residency eyed for new health workers

MANILA, Philippines — Newly inducted members of the health workforce may have to work in the country for at least a year before they can be allowed to leave for employment abroad, Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said at a recent press briefing.

Vergeire said this “return service agreement” or RSA, which will be applied to doctors, nurses and others in the medical field, is part of the discussions in the health sector.

“Under this agreement, one’s responsibility to the country is being used as basis, and the DOH agrees to that,” Vergeire said. “There are ongoing talks right now as to strategies that we would like to discuss in detail with our higher educational institutions concerning this RSA.”

She, however, said a mechanism for this must first be developed “since our health care workers also have the right to seek greener pastures and plan their career path.”

“We agree with this RSA but there is a need to carefully discuss the guidelines and how will this be implemented so our students will not be put in a disadvantaged situation once they graduate,” Vergeire said.

Around 20,000 positions at the DOH remain unfilled, Vergeire also said.

When the House committee on appropriations, chaired by Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Elizaldy Co, looked into the budgetary performance of the agency with DOH officials, the health OIC reported that the agency currently has around 20,000 vacant positions but filling them is a challenge.

She cited uncompetitive salaries and insufficiency of certain health professionals such as speech therapists.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) said this one-year mandatory service is anti-health worker.

Robert Mendoza, AHW president, said, “Authorities should first look into the root causes why there is migration of health workers.”

He pointed out that issues concerning salary, delayed benefits, contractualization and poor working conditions are some of the reasons why health workers in the country go abroad. — Rhodina Villanueva