236 Filipino nurses receive conditional offers to join Sask. health care system, province says

236 Filipino nurses receive conditional offers WATCH: Over 200 Filipino nurses received conditional offers to join Saskatchewan’s health care system. Donovan Maess has more.

Hundreds more Filipino Registered Nurses (RN) received conditional offers to join the Saskatchewan health care system, following the province’s second recruitment mission to the Philippines.

Saskatchewan’s in-person recruitment mission in mid-March resulted in 236 conditional job offers, according to a release from the province.

A small group from the provincial government and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) hosted the recent mission in Manila and Cebu.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Health Minister Paul Merriman said the mission expanded on the success of their first mission last year.

“We have over 420 job offers, some of them are conditional,” he said. “The SHA offers them the position be able to be employed within Saskatchewan then we have to go through some of the immigration process just to make sure everything is cleared on that.”

Merriman said once that process is complete, they enter them into their bridging program, then get them over to Saskatchewan.

“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 licence, some of their travel.”

“Going and moving halfway around the world does take a little bit of time but we do have some on the ground and we’ve got some more in our bridging program so it’s coming along really well,” he added.

Speaking to reporters, NDP MLA and Health Critic Vicki Mowat said while it’s encouraging to see that offers have gone out, offers do not equal boots on the ground

“We definitely need folks here today who can help with the crisis that exists in our health care system,” she said. “The government has failed to plan for this health care staffing shortage and we have been calling for a real strategy around human resources for years now.”

She said recruiting is one piece of the equation and they need to make sure people are going to stick around 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.

Four continuing care assistants and two medical lab assistants from the Philippines have been hired and are now working in Saskatchewan.