Not solely does the Philippines have fewer than eight medical doctors per 10,000 individuals and a scarcity of at the least 127,000 nurses, but additionally a lot of its well being graduates lack coaching for public well being work, in accordance with Ateneo de Manila College researchers. Credit score: Aaron R. Vicencio, ADMU
Regardless of being a high exporter of well being care professionals, the Philippines faces a persistent scarcity of nurses and physicians. Additionally, many well being graduates within the nation are unprepared for real-world public well being work. Authorities main care amenities and hospitals battle to rent ample employees attributable to finances and coverage obstacles, whereas personal hospitals battle to maintain their employees attributable to fiscal constraints.
These findings, printed within the worldwide journal Human Sources for Well being by Ateneo de Manila College researchers, are main hurdles to the implementation of Common Well being Protection (UHC) within the nation.
The examine discovered that many Filipino medical doctors and nurses are inadequately ready for UHC attributable to hospital-focused training that lacks coaching in public well being and community-based care. Graduates usually enter the workforce with out ample understanding of UHC rules, and there are restricted onboarding applications to bridge this hole.
On the similar time, low salaries, job insecurity, and restricted profession development drive many well being professionals to hunt higher alternatives overseas. These mixed points in training and compensation are main obstacles to constructing a powerful and sustainable well being workforce important for UHC implementation.
“The nurses we lost are our best nurses. It is painful that the trained ones are the ones who leave. The ones left with us are either the new ones or are very old, because their salary (overseas) is five times what we pay here,” confided the administrator of a public tertiary facility in an city space.
And even when well being care professionals select to remain within the nation, they discover themselves beset by restrictive authorities hiring insurance policies that create bottlenecks within the workforce:
“The Department of Health has many (requirements) that are difficult to provide. Especially for manpower. We need a records officer, an Information Technology administrator, but what happens is the nurse is the administrator. She is also in the records. So, the nurse is also the IT person that should be designated just to meet the criteria,” stated a public main care supplier from an city space.
Tenuous execution of well being workforce provisions within the UHC Legislation
The signing of Republic Act No. 11223 (also referred to as the Philippine Common Well being Care Act) in February 2019 was a landmark transfer aimed toward making certain that every one Filipinos, no matter revenue or geographic location, have entry to high quality and reasonably priced well being companies with out monetary difficulties.
The regulation mandates computerized enrollment of all residents into the Nationwide Well being Insurance coverage Program and expands the position of native authorities models (LGUs) in managing well being service supply. Implementation started shortly earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic, which each highlighted the urgency of well being system reform and strained the nation’s already fragile well being infrastructure.
Nonetheless, regardless of the regulation’s passage, the researchers discovered that its implementation has been vastly hindered by issues with workforce readiness, service supply capability, and points within the coordination between nationwide and native well being programs.
Based on their analysis, the Philippines’ physician-to-population ratio stands at 7.92 per 10,000 individuals, falling in need of the worldwide minimal customary of 10 per 10,000. Moreover, the nation faces a scarcity of at the least 127,000 nurses, with most shortages concentrated within the personal sector.
The issue is exacerbated by the “brain drain” phenomenon, which sees many well being care staff looking for higher pay and dealing circumstances overseas. And since present well being and medical training usually neglects group well being and UHC rules, new graduates are ill-prepared for deployment to underserved areas.
Suggestions for well being workforce recruitment, retention
To handle these challenges, the researchers suggest:
better integration between tutorial establishments and well being amenities to make sure placement for graduates coated by return service agreements and minimizing workforce shortages in well being amenities
providing instructional incentives for dependents and postgraduate coaching for well being staff with return service agreements
extra equitable distribution of specialist coaching alternatives for physicians
revisiting medical and well being training curricula
greater training and civil service reforms
revisiting some provisions of the Native Authorities Code
native governments to develop long-term plans to recruit and retain well being staff
revisiting well being workforce coaching applications and their prices
UHC coaching for present well being workforce and new hires and
extra equitable bilateral labor agreements between well being workforce supply and vacation spot international locations.
These suggestions goal to mitigate workforce shortages and assist guarantee a extra equitable well being care system underneath the UHC Legislation. Furthermore, the Ateneo examine paints a sobering image of the Philippine well being system’s present capability to ship on its UHC promise.
Pressing and sustained investments within the native well being workforce are wanted to make sure that common Philippine well being care is greater than only a authorized aspiration.
Extra info:
Pepito, Veincent Christian, et al. Well being workforce points and really helpful practices within the implementation of Common Well being Protection within the Philippines: a qualitative examine. Human Sources for Well being archium.ateneo.edu/asmph-pubs/314
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Ateneo de Manila College
Quotation:
Examine highlights workforce hurdles to Common Well being Care within the Philippines (2025, Might 22)
retrieved 22 Might 2025
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