Italy needs Philippine nurses, health workers

Italy is in need of Filipino nurses sooner than later, a former envoy said.

Philippe Lhuiller, who served as Philippine ambassador to Italy from 1999 until January 2010, said, “They really need nurses. There are hospitals, at least five of them near our embassy, have closed shop because of the shortage of nurses.”

“Italians love Filipinos because they are clean, and they work well,” he told eporters during a roundtable held in Makati City on Tuesday.

Lhuiller noted the change in an old policy that required Filipino nurses wishing to work in Italy to attend 4,500 hours in Italian colleges and learn the native language.

Lhuiller said the policy is to allow Filipino nurses to work in Italy provided that they pass the language exam administered by the country’s Ministry of Health.

To learn the language, Filipinos can take up the basic three-month Italian language courses being offered by the Philippine Embassy in Italy.

“Because of the shortage, there are Filipinos [whose employers are doctors] who double as nursing aide in their employers,” Lhuiller added.

Based on Philippine government records, there are 200,000 thousand Filipinos in Italy. Of this figure, 90 percent are legal since the government awards amnesty to illegal immigrants every year.

The amnesty is implemented to regularize certain number of workers for particular sector. At least 14,000 Filipinos were granted amnesty in 2009 alone.

Filipino workers in Italy are mostly women household service workers, while Filipino men are drivers, gardeners, among others.

Irma Tobias, a Filipino community leader in Rome, backed Lhuiller’s statements.  “Italy’s priority is to hire health workers from Asia, especially from the Philippines considering the experience with the Filipino workers who have been here for a long time,” she said. –Llanesca T. Panti, Manila Times