Philippines eases ban on overseas travel of health workers

Those with signed contracts as of 8 March are allowed to leave.

The Philippines is allowing health workers with existing overseas contracts to leave, relaxing an order earlier this month to keep them in the country to reinforce the healthcare system amid the pandemic, Bloomberg reported.

Future applications for health-care jobs abroad are “frozen until further notice,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, who called the ban unconstitutional, said on Monday. President Rodrigo Duterte said that while he doesn’t blame the nurses who wish to return overseas and won’t hold them against their will, the situation empowers the state to impose a ban.

Medical professionals with signed contracts as of 8 March will be allowed to leave, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said at a televised briefing on 21 AprilTuesday. The government will also conduct an emergency hiring of more health workers.

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