Tackling the ‘nursing exodus’ in the Philippines
The Philippines has been known as a major – if not the largest – exporter of nurses globally. It was estimated that in 2020, some 240,000 Filipino nurses are working across the world.
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But ironically, the country is now facing a growing nursing shortage at home. As of 2023, the Philippines faces a shortage of around 127,000 nurses, a number which is expected to grow to 250,000 by 2030.
The reasons behind this trend are many-fold, but Ms Everrette C. Zafe, Nursing Director at World Citi Medical Center (WCMC) in Manila, points to the COVID-19 pandemic as a tipping point.
Before the pandemic, the hospital saw the pace of recruits keeping up with the pace of those leaving. The pandemic however heavily disrupted this balance.
“Nurses feared the risk of catching the virus themselves, and we saw an exodus of nurses with many leaving the profession altogether. At the peak, we were seeing 2 to 3 resignations every week,” said Ms Zafe.