‘Germany needs 200,000 nurses’
Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre
The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) is looking for an institute that could teach German to Filipino nurses who work as domestic helpers here in Hong Kong, Labor Attache Jalilo dela Torre said.
Dela Torre said members of the Philippine Association of Service Exporters (PASEI) told the nursing jobs forum at the Bayanihan Centre on October 9 that there was a great demand for Filipino nurses in Germany.
“Tremendous ang demand kaya naghahanap kami dito sa Hong Kong ng training institute,” Dela Torre said in an interview.
He said that more than 150 overseas Filipino workers attended the forum, which tackled job opportunities for registered nurses in Germany, Australia, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia.
He said nurses going to Germany need to learn the German language before they are deployed there.
“Diyan yung language training, which is for six months, and nagtatanong yung attendees kung pwede maghanap kami dito ng German language training institute para, while they’re still
here, they can pursue their training on their own para hindi na umuwi (sa Pilipinas) para lang sa language training,” Dela Torre said.
He added that there was no experience required for nurses going to Germany.
“Ang daming opportunities. May jobs encounter sa Cologne kaya pupunta ang PASEI duon and they will be meeting with employers, yung hospitals,” Dela Torre said.
“They will also set up German language training schools back home for those coming from the Philippines,” he added.
For nurses working as FDHs in Hong Kong who want to work in Germany, they can begin contacting employment agencies that send nurses there.
“They can communicate kung ano ang requirements. Tapos, if it’s time to interview the employer, e talagang uuwi sila. Di pwede dito,” he said.
PASEI can be contacted through email (secretariat@pasei.com) and its website (www.pasei.com). It also has a Facebook page.
Former Labor Secretary Baldoz said in March after a visit to Germany that the country was in short supply of nurses and that it would need at least 200,000 nurses by 2020.
“The officials have expressed preference to hire Filipino nurses,” she said during a press briefing in Pasay City.
Baldoz’s official visit coincided with the 3rd Anniversary of the Triple Win Agreement, which was signed on March 19, 2013.
Since the signing of the agreement, Germany has accepted 222 Filipino nurses, 128 of whom had been deployed to 14 employers in Germany while the rest were still completing their preparatory German language training in the Philippines.