Papahintulutan nang makaalis sa Pilipinas ang mga nurse at iba pang mga health workers na may existing contracts sa ibang bansa.
Anunsyo ito ni Foreign Affairs Sec. Teodoro Locsin Jr. ilang araw matapos suspindihin ng Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) ang deployment ng mga health care workers sa ibayong dagat sa gitna ng COVID-19 pandemic.
“There you go. Godspeed nurses; spread the word by your examples: Filipina nurses are there, with their extraordinary caring, for all people wherever in need of them,” wika ni Locsin sa isang tweet.
Nilinaw naman ni Locsin na naka-freeze pa rin ang mga applications “until further notice”.
“Future applications frozen until further notice provided all our 450,000+ nurses—exceeding by 250,000 ideal WHO ratio of people-to-nurses—must be given employment,” ani Locsin.
Nagpasalamat din si Locsin kina presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon kaugnay sa development.
Sa isa namang pahayag, sinabi ni Panelo na ang pasya sa pagrekonsidera sa temporary deployment ban ay nabuo sa pulong ng Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) ngayong Lunes.
“I also sent a memo to President Rodrigo Duterte recommending the lifting of the travel ban on health workers with perfected contracts. The IATF resolution is subject to the approval of the President,” saad ni Panelo.
Una nang binatikos ni Locsin ang deployment ban, na umano’y labag sa Saligang Batas.
