The Ministry of Health says it's making progress on its efforts to address worker shortages in Saskatchewan health care. (650 CKOM file photo)

By CKOM News Staff

21 Filipino nurses working in Sask. as part of human resources plan

Jan 16, 2024 | 12:57 PM

A number of nurses recruited in the Philippines have started working in Saskatchewan.

According to the Ministry of Health, 21 Filipino nurses have now completed their training and begun working in communities around Saskatchewan, with more expected to start work in the coming months.

A total of 131 nurses have arrived in Saskatchewan from the Philippines since the government began its overseas recruiting push, with more than 400 Filipino nurses getting conditional offers of employment to work as registered nurses in the province.

The international recruiting is part of the health ministry’s $60-million Health Human Resources Action Plan, which aims to address worker shortages in the health-care system and serve Saskatchewan’s growing population by adding 1,000 new workers over several years.

Everett Hindley, Saskatchewan’s health minister, said he’s pleased to see the Filipino nurses joining the health-care workforce.

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“I look forward to these highly qualified nurses joining health care teams across the province and making a valuable contribution to patient care,” Hindley said in a statement.

Domestic recruiting is also part of the plan, and the ministry said nearly 970 new nursing graduates from across Canada have been hired since December of 2022.

Recruitment of doctors is also underway, the ministry noted, with 259 physicians recruited to work in the province since September of 2021. That figure includes 105 family doctors and 154 specialists.

“Saskatchewan offers highly competitive compensation and benefits for physicians as part of ongoing efforts to attract, train and retain family physicians and specialists, with a focus on addressing gaps and incentives and supports available to our physicians to help them succeed,” Hindley noted.

The ministry is also aiming to train more health-care workers in the province, touting an $850,000 funding boost for the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies which will add 25 seats to the mental health and wellness diploma program. In addition, a partnership with the Gabriel Dumont Institute aimed to boost the number of Métis workers in the health-care sector, particularly in the northern parts of the province.