Hundreds of PH nurses get ‘conditional offers’ for jobs in Saskatchewan, Canada

The high caliber of nurses and training programs in the Philippines has made it a prime source of recruits for Canada’s health care systems. Photo for illustration only. © Reuters

Saskatchewan’s mid-March nurse recruiting mission to Manila and Cebu resulted in 236 conditional job offers to join the Canadian province’s health care system, an official release said. This is on top of some 200 job offers the province’s previous mission had given.

Health Minister Paul Merriman said once the immigration process is completed, the conditional recruits are brought into Saskatchewan Health Authority’s bridging program.

“It’s an important process that we go through, making sure their credentials are all verified,” he said. “If they need some support in coming over, we have up to $10,000 for them to be able to come over, that pays for some of their license, some of their travel.”

Meanwhile, New Democratic Party Member of the Legislative Assembly and Health Critic Vicki Mowat said while it’s encouraging to see that offers have gone out, “We definitely need folks here today who can help with the crisis that exists in our health care system,” CTV Newsreported.

Mowat said recruiting is one part and authorities need to make sure people are going to stay the province: “Workplace conditions need to be improved, short staffing conditions need to be improved, the ability to take vacations needs to be improved. These quality of life issues are incredibly important.

“When you couple that with coming to a new country, having culture shock, learning a new medical system that is not exactly the same as the one you were trained on, that requires intensive supports and mentorship of senior nurses,” she added.

The province recruited 162 Filipino RNs in December 2022, who are now moving through the RN Pathway, which includes language training, bridging education, and licensing, according to CTV News.