Zamboanga nurses tapped for Saudi hospital work
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/24/2008 1:13 PM
Printer-friendly version | 
Send to friend | 
Share your views
Government agencies in Zamboanga City have stepped up their recruitment of Muslim nurses in the Zamboanga Peninsula region as part of the demand for more Filipino nurses in Saudi Arabia hospitals.
Labor and Employment Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Ministry of Health of the kingdom tapped their office to help recruit some 2,000 female Muslim nurses in preparation of the upcoming Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Saudi Arabia recently announced that it would need Filipino Muslim nurses to cater to the millions of Muslims who will make the pilgrimage.
Luningning Umar, commissioner of the Commission of Higher Education, meanwhile, said they chose Zamboanga City as the center of recruitment to give opportunities to unemployed nursing graduates, including those from Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi provinces.
Umar explained that the recruitment would also give job opportunities to fresh nursing graduates.
Since the Saudi health ministry does not require the applicants to become board passers and to have a few years of work experience in local hospitals, the labor department and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has been coordinating with public and private universities to encourage their graduates to apply.
Saudi ministry officials are due in Zamboanga City in November to personally conduct the screening process.
The Philippine labor department, meanwhile, assured the public that there have been no retrenchment of Filipino contract workers in the kingdom despite the global financial crisis. RJ Rosalado, ABS-CBN Zamboanga
