WITH more health care workers resigning to work abroad or avoiding contracting the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the Philippines may lose many of its nurses in the next six months, the head of the country’s private hospital group warned on Tuesday. Dr. Jose Renede Grano of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHA) said that around 5 to10 percent of nurses in private hospitals resigned in the past two to three weeks, severely limiting the capacity of health institutions. He added that with a more relaxed deployment of nurses to foreign countries, coupled with few nursing board passers to replace them, the country may experience a shortage of nurses that would severely impact admissions in hospitals. He said most international hospitals hire Filipino nurses from larger hospitals with ISO certification as they tend to be more experienced and more equipped with the skills needed in these facilities. The Department of Health has reiterated that it has tapped the services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine National Police and the Bureau of Fire Protection to augment health care workers in public and private hospitals while continuing its hiring of health care workers. Read more at: https://www.manilatimes.net/2021/10/20/news/national/nurses-leaving-in-droves-pha/1819057
EXTRICATING NDONESIAN CHILDREN FROM ISIS INFLUENCE ABROAD
Indonesia urgently needs to revisit the possibility of repatriating the neediest of its young citizens stranded abroad, whose families had earlier joined ISIS. Most of these children are in camps in northern Syria but there are also small numbers in the Philippines, Afghanistan and Iraq. “Extricating Indonesian Children from ISIS Influence Abroad”, the latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) argues that the government could begin by bringing back small groups of unaccompanied children under ten years of age, who pose minimal security risk and are most vulnerable to deteriorating conditions in the camps.“The problem is that health and security conditions are worsening by the day in the Syrian camps, and the children are growing older,” says Dyah Kartika, IPAC analyst. “They need access to schools, a nurturing environment, and medical attention. If the government waits too long, the children will be further exposed to ISIS ideology.” The new report examines a 2019 list of Indonesians in camps and prisons run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Indonesian government has been trying to verify their citizenship, but with pseudonyms, misspellings and bad transliterations, it is a daunting task. At the time the data was collected, between March and June 2019, there were 555 Indonesians in SDF camps and prisons, including 367 children. Among the children, approximately 277 were under the age of ten and 34 were unaccompanied. In June 2021, there are fewer than ten children who are both unaccompanied and under the age of ten that could be prioritized for return. Bringing back children of ISIS families is no easy task. The report analyses the main challenges faced by the Indonesian government. These include definitional issues, bureaucratic competition, the difficulty of verifying nationality, evaluating the toll of exposure to conflict, assessing security risk, and finding relatives or others willing to provide care once the children are returned. In addition, COVID has meant stringent restrictions on travel, placing further obstacles in the way of repatriation. There are several models for rehabilitation of children exposed to violent extremism in Indonesia that could be modified to accommodate the needs of children repatriated from abroad. The report examines these models and argues that the government does not need to have every detail of rehabilitation programs in place before it starts extricating children from ISIS influence. It can start by bringing back the most vulnerable children and then modify programs as needed.
“It’s important that the government see these children as victims” says Dyah. “They deserve a chance to be children again.”
