MANILA, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The Philippines' president has
eased an overseas travel ban on Filipino nurses and other
medical workers to allow more to take jobs abroad, his spokesman
said on Monday, as his government believes it has its
coronavirus outbreak under control.
Thousands of health workers, who call themselves
"priso-nurses", had appealed to the government to let them
travel, Reuters reported last week. The nurses say they feel
underpaid, under-appreciated and unprotected in the Philippines.
President Rodrigo Duterte approved the proposal of the
labour ministry to expand exemptions from the ban to those who
had overseas contracts and complete documents as of Aug. 31,
spokesman Harry Roque told a regular briefing.
So far only those with contracts as of March 8 have been
allowed to travel.
Roque said the president's decision would benefit 1,500
health personnel.
"These are nurses who already spent a lot (of money)
processing their papers. They are not that many so we allowed
them to leave," Roque said.
Healthcare workers from the Philippines are on the front
lines of the pandemic at hospitals in the United States, Europe
and the Middle East as well as at home.
Duterte's government in April barred nurses, doctors and
other medical workers from leaving, saying they were needed to
fight the coronavirus crisis in the Philippines, which is still
tackling its first wave of infections.
The country has the highest number of recorded coronavirus
infections in Southeast Asia with 286,743 cases. Its 4,984
deaths are second only to Indonesia.
But Roque insisted there was no reason to panic and said:
"We are in control."
"We know the enemy and we know how to fight the enemy
through isolation, tracing and treatment," Roque added.
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INSIGHT-Pandemic "hero" Filipino nurses struggle to leave home
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