Despite being a top exporter of healthcare professionals, the Philippines faces a chronic shortage of nurses and physicians. Also, many health graduates in the country are unprepared for real-world public health work. Government primary care facilities and hospitals struggle to hire sufficient staff due to budget and policy barriers, while private hospitals struggle to keep their staff due to fiscal constraints.
These findings, published recently in the international journal Human Resources for Health by Ateneo de Manila University researchers, are major hurdles to the implementation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the country.
