NEWS RELEASE

2 November 2015

Another batch of Filipino healthcare workers get ready for deployment to Japan

Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac said the Japan International Corporation of Welfare Services (JICWELS), the counterpart agency of the Philippines in the recruitment of nurses and caregivers under the Philippines- Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA), has selected 363 Filipino health workers for possible deployment to Japan next year.

Cacdac said the 73 nurses and 290 caregivers will undergo a 6-month Preliminary Japanese Language Training before their deployment to Japan on June 2016 to undertake on-the-job training at their selected health care institutions and hospitals.

The candidate nurses should be able to pass the licensure examination in Japan before they can work as registered nurses and are given three chances to take the licensure examination. Candidate caregivers, on the other hand, are required to complete at least three years on-the-job training before they can take the national examination for caregivers and work in Japan for an indefinite period after passing the examination.

Under the PJEPA agreement, nurses can earn a minimum salary of JPY170,000 or Php74,000 while the salary of caregivers is pegged at JPY160,000 or Php70,000. Aside from the 6-month language training, the employer shoulders the cost of the healthcare worker’s plane ticket, POEA processing fee, and OWWA membership fee.

The POEA, through its government-to-government hiring facility, had already deployed a total of 413 nurses and 852 caregivers to Japan since the signing of PJEPA memorandum of agreement in 2009. /END

----------------------------------------------------------