Several countries in three continents are ready to accept Filipino medical workers after the government lifted the temporary deployment ban, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said on Tuesday.

POEA chief Bernard Olalia said nations in the Middle East, Europe, and North America prefer to hire nurses and other medical workers.

“The top destinations for our health care workers especially nurses, number one is the Middle East, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), followed by Qatar, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates (UAE),” he said during a Laging Handa briefing.

Olalia added that Manila and Riyadh have a bilateral agreement involving the sending of medical workers.

He said in the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany, the deployment of workers is done either through government-to-government or private recruitment processes.

Olalia said the hiring for Germany, under the Triple Win Agreement, involves a government-to-government recruitment process while the deployment is done through POEA-accredited private license recruitment agencies (LRAs).

He added that job opportunities also await Filipino nurses in the United States.

“In many nations around the world, our nurses are number one, preferred choice,” he added.

Meanwhile, Olalia said welcomed the proposed measure on hiking the salary of medical professionals in the country.

“It’s good that they are being given attention. I think, it will be beneficial to nurses as they may decide to work here and stay with their families,” he added.

He, however, noted that the starting salary being offered by destination countries are higher.

“The starting salary they will be getting abroad (depending on the host country) is not below PHP100,000 a month. If you are a fully acknowledged nurse, you will be getting more,” he said.

Under the proposed bill, the salary of nurses will be adjusted from a little over PHP32,000 to more than PHP60,000 a month. (PNA)