Demand for Filipino Nurses Stays High in Japan
MANILA: The demand for Filipino nurses and caregivers remain high in Japan, according to the Japanese Ambassador to Manila.
The high number of Filipino candidate nurses and caregivers that could be deployed under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) shows that there is a continuing demand for health workers from the Philippines, Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa was quoted as saying by Sun Star.
“I’m pretty happy to know that your group is the biggest batch since the beginning of this program under JPEPA. This simply shows the higher demand for Filipino nurses and care workers in the growing aging society of Japan,” Ishikawa reportedly said during the opening ceremony of the Preparatory Japanese Language Training for Candidate Nurses and Caregivers bound for Japan.
Comprising the eight batch of candidate nurses and caregivers to Japan are 354 Filipino nurses and caregivers, the report said.
Now that they are considered as candidates, the program calls for them to undergo six months of preparatory training in the country, it added.
They will then depart for Japan in June 2016 and undergo another six months of Japanese language training there, the report pointed out.
According to Ishikawa, he is hopeful that many of the candidates will be able to pass the Japanese language training.
“Your proficiency in the language is essential for your work and life in Japan as well as your passing the national examination. I know Japanese is one of the most difficult languages to study in the world, but the more you master it, the better the quality of your life will be,” the Japanese envoy reportedly said.
Ishikawa was quoted as saying that once the candidates pass the language training, they can already undertake on-the-job training at various hospitals in Japan.
The deployment of the Filipino nurses and caregivers is part of the JPEPA between the two countries signed in 2006, reported Sun Star.