THERE are 1,075 Filipino skilled nurses who were accepted to work in various German hospitals are stranded in the country due to the deployment ban on health workers imposed by the Inter-Agency Task Force [IATF] on COVID-19 since April 2 this year.
The Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI), the largest recruitment association in the country, took a survey recently among its members to find out how many Germany–bound nurses are in their pipeline and ready to be deployed once the ban is lifted by the government.
The 1,075 stranded nurses have been out of work for the past two years and out of the national health care system in preparation for their German posts, and their finances have practically dried up.
The nurses are slowly losing their German language proficiency even as their German employers await the lifting of the deployment ban.
The recruitment agencies said the nurses have been studying German for the past year and have been issued visas for Germany but they cannot leave the prohibition is lifted.
The Philippines and Germany have a government-to-government agreement for the deployment of skilled and qualified nurses to Germany.
Nurses in Germany earn at least 2,700 Euros monthly or the equivalent of P160,000, a substantial sum that would be a big help to their families in the country.
There are at least more than 1,400 nurses now working in Germany.
Willy M. Balasa
