‘Exporting’ Philippine Health Sciences Training Programs May Help Slow Down Migration of Health Professionals
“Instead of losing our local workers abroad, we can share our medical and nursing clinical skills to foreign students through student exchange programs. This way, we assist other developing countries in building their own healthcare workforce while providing fruitful opportunities to our educators,” UP Manila Chancellor Michael Tee emphasized this in the recent Philippine-Pacific Health Initiative Conference in November which gathered global health experts and ministers of Health and foreign affairs from Pacific Island countries and territories to address the critical need for sustainable health human resources across the Pacific.
“This may be a novel solution. The government may also provide incentives to faculty members who will share their expertise in teaching foreign students. We will become the center of training for excellent healthcare practitioners in the world,” he said.
The Pacific Islands are comprised of 18 countries: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau,Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
As part of the training package, Chancellor Tee suggested the inclusion of immersion in specialized programs in community care, elderly care, and mother-and-child care for one month. This hands-on experience in the Philippines improves the students’ knowledge in these important areas of healthcare while fostering cultural and educational exchange.
Government statistics say there is a gap of 221,727 in the number of health workers who should be practicing in local facilities. This is due to three main issues in the Philippine healthcare workforce: Inadequacy (migration and a limited number of graduates), limited learning and career development opportunities, and push and pull factors (low attractiveness of the local health labor market and low retention in the local health facilities/systems). This was revealed by Dr. Johanna Solon Banzon, Department of Health – Health Human Resource Development Bureau director IV during her presentation at a recent forum held at UP Manila also in November.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) projects that the global health workforce deficit could reach 10 million by 2030. This could disproportionately affect low-income and middle-income countries that are also most vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters and pandemics.
“Partnership with learning institutions from the Pacific Islands means that we can export the same high-quality programs we use here and focus on capacity-building where it is needed most while ensuring enough manpower to serve in local health facilities,” he said.
To date, UP Manila has inked training partnerships with several academic institutions overseas including Monash University and the University of Adelaide in Australia, Gunma University, Dokkyo Medical University (DMU), Japanese Red Cross Hiroshima College of Nursing (JRCHCN), Nagoya University in Japan, and University of Mataram, Indonesia among others.
UP Manila recently received a certificate of recognition from the Commission on Higher Education for fostering global partnerships that contribute to enhanced quality and accessibility of education. It also received the “SUC Idol in Internationalization” award for outstanding performance in international university rankings.
