Filipino Health Care Professionals for Germany
Placement Agreement to counter skills shortage signed
Filipino Health Care Professionals for Germany
Placement Agreement to counter skills shortage signed
Signing ceremony in Manila (from left to right): Rosalinda Baldoz, Secretary, Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE), Leo J. Cacdac, Administrator, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Monika Varnhagen, Director, International Placement Services (ZAV) and Ursula von der Leyen, Federal Minister of Labour and Social Affairs © R. Deischl
Health care professionals are becoming scarce in Germany. There are currently about 10,000 vacancies for geriatric nurses. To meet these needs, the Federal Employment Agency, International Placement Services (ZAV) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration signed a placement agreement in Manila (Philippines) on 19 March. It is a prerequisite for the deployment of Filipino nurses to Germany. Similar agreements are in place only with the Public Employment Services of Croatia and Serbia.
The agreement is based on the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Code of Practice. It stipulates that international recruitment of health personnel should only encourage active recruitment of health personnel from countries of origin that do not face a shortage of health care professionals. Filipino health workers will receive language and culture training in their home country in preparation for their employment in Germany. They will be employed under the same conditions of contract as German health personnel.
Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Ursula von der Leyen: There is a tremendous demand for health care professionals. The agreement has opened the German health care sector to Filipino health care professionals. Looking ahead, skilled health personnel will be in such great demand that we can not only exhaust the potential of the domestic and European labour market, but must also promote careers in Germany on an international level.
In the light of the skills shortage, Government, Länder and Association Representatives introduced the Training and Qualification Initiative Geriatric Care on 13 December 2012.They agreed on the implementation of a comprehensive package of measures comprising ten areas of activity in order to address the shortage of professionals in geriatric care. These include not only a stronger development of Germany’s domestic training and qualification potential, but also the immigration of qualified professionals from third countries on the basis of placement agreements.
Status: 03/20/2013, http://www.bmas.de/EN/Home/home.html;jsessionid=A0D949CB77D38D8D7A3354C077C92045
