One problem plaguing the Philippine health care system is that there is no reliable, accurate way of keeping track of nurses, physicians, and other health professionals in and out of the country. Once they pass the board exams of the Philippine Regulatory Commission (PRC), there's no mechanism to know whether they're practicing their profession, whether they've changed jobs, whether they're unemployed, whether they're still inside the country, or whether they're still alive!
I guess this problem also besets other professions (e.g., law) but this important implications in the development of our health system (and human capital development, in general), especially in knowing which regions are in most need for health manpower and how many are available to satisfy that need. Also, without an updating mechanism, it will be difficult to measure how many health professionals are unemployed and underemployed, which has far-reaching implications in understanding the so-called "brain drain" phenomenon and in the allocation of human capital resources (most notably in "oversubscribed" health courses such as nursing).
As such, it may do well for government (mainly the PRC) to require the mandatory submission of each and every registered health professional of his or her bio-data each year if possible (or once every 3 years at least, in consonance with the schedule most surveys made by the government). In addition, it could be made a requisite for the renewal of licenses. Of course, this should be an online process for easy and efficient data processing, and so that everyone (esp. those in the provinces or abroad) can participate.
The above-suggested information updating system is likely to be cost-effective and will surely result in a more informed assessment of the status of the Philippine health human resource sector.
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