SikhSpectrum.com Quarterly Issue No.18, November 2004
Physicians' flight will collapse nation's health care: expert
Danny Chan
The quality of health care in the Philippines will abate as its health care workers continue to flee the country, a health expert has warned. An exodus has ensued as the nation's doctors leave to work as nurses in western countries, where salaries are higher and nurses are in greater demand.
"Something must really be done on this because the quality of our own health care system will deteriorate," Dr Marilyn Lorenzo, head of the Institute of Health Policy and Development Studies at the University of the Philippines, said, adding the practice will cause the Philippines' health program to collapse.
Ms Lorenzo said 3,657 doctors left the country between 1996 and 2002. The University of the Philippines is presently tracking them down to obtain a clearer understanding of the diaspora as well as to protect them from abuse.
"Actually, it's not only doctors. We are getting information that even dentists are taking up nursing so that they could go abroad. It's becoming their ticket for migration," Ms Lorenzo said. She cited the country's political instability, low wages and poor working conditions as the main inducements for leaving the Philippines.
"They said that the working condition here is not good. They said the socio-political climate in our country is getting worse and that they are leaving for the future of their children," Ms Lorenzo commented.
A doctor's starting salary, particularly in small hospitals and the provinces, is low considering their years of schooling, she said, adding that physicians in small hospitals and in the provinces earn slightly above minimum wage yet maintain heavy workloads.
"If they became doctors for money, you can't blame them. But in the first place, they should have not become doctors if they are after the money," Ms Lorenzo said.
Approximately 500 doctors wrote the nursing board's last three examinations. Records obtained from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration indicated 2,956 physicians went to the United States, 393 to Canada, 197 to Australia, 83 to New Zealand, seven to Japan, six to the United Kingdom, three to Germany and 13 to other countries from 1996 to 2002.
POEA records moreover indicated 16,124 nurses left the country during the six-year span: 13,567 nurses went to search for work in the United States; 1,566 to Canada; 612 to Australia; 73 to Germany; 56 to New Zealand; 46 to Japan; and 175 to the United Kingdom and other countries.
