Fewer Pinoys taking up...

numerous benefits for registered nurses, but we have few applicants,” Soriano disclosed.

According to Soriano, there are few applicants because the country is also producing fewer nursing graduates.

Soriano said young Filipinos are discouraged from taking up nursing because of the belief that the deployment cap limits their chances of working abroad.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the government set an annual deployment cap of 7,500 for HCWs to ensure a sufficient supply of nurses in the country.

Citing data from the Professional Regulation Commission, Soriano said a total of 48,686 nursing graduates passed the licensure examination from 2016 to 2022.

The figure he said is insufficient to fill the huge demand for HCWs in the United States, United Kingdom and other European countries.

To curb the downtrend, Soriano urged the government to raise or totally lift the deployment cap.

Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople previously reported that the government is currently studying the possibility of raising the deployment cap for HCWs. n