To help incumbent personnel prepare for the arrival of their new Filipino colleagues next year, Consul Catherine Torres of the Philippine Embassy in Berlin gave a presentation at the orientation session held on 29 October 2019 at the Helios Klinik Leezen.

 

Situated on the banks of the Schweriner See in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Helios Klinik Leezen is a 240-bed hospital with one of the biggest intensive care units in Germany. It expects to welcome its first batch of 15 Filipino nurses in mid-2020, with another 25 nurses going to a sister facility across the lake, in Schwerin.

Around 60 hospital staff led by their managing director, Mr Thomas Clausing, attended the orientation, which was jointly organized with Helios by GP Care Solutions GmbH, the placement agency working with them in bringing Filipino nurses to Germany. Also present was Mr John Green, the nursing director of Helios Kliniken Schwerin, which will receive some of the nurses. GP Care Solutions’ managing director Frank-Uwe Schneider gave a presentation that touched on, among other aspects, the history, geography, and demographics of the Philippines.

 

Next to present was Mr Enrico Lobrigo of GigaMarie and Tandem Language & Training Center, which offers German language classes in the Philippines for nurses preparing to work in Germany. He talked about intercultural learning and intercultural competence, drawing on his experience having lived in Germany for 13 years before returning to the Philippines.

Consul Torres then took the floor with a presentation that highlighted the Philippines’ long history of providing nursing care around the world, including in Germany, where a few thousand Filipino nurses were deployed in the late 1960s under an intergovernmental arrangement. She then updated them on the current healthcare employment cooperation, before touching on cultural differences and some concerns raised by Filipino nurses working in Germany with the Embassy.

She underscored the challenges faced by the Filipino nurses in learning a new language and adapting to a new climate and culture, and expressed the hope that the hospital staff will support them in their adjustment. (END)

Philippine Ambassador Theresa Dizon-De Vega delivered a presentation on Phiippine-Germany Healthcare Cooperation at the European Health Congress held at the Hilton Hotel Munich, Germany on 27 September 2019.

Outlining the history of the entry of Filipino nursing and other healthcare-related fields professionals to Germany starting in the late 1960s, Ambassador Dizon-De Vega discussed the various opportunities and challenges in the implementation of a truly beneficial healthcare cooperation arrangement between the Philippines and Germany.

The focus of the presentation is the ongoing implementation of the Triple Win Healthcare Placement Program between the two countries which seeks to benefit the professionals source countries, the destination country, and the healthcare professionals themselves with access to advance training and technology.

Mechanisms to further improve the landmark Triple Win Agreement signed in 2013 were likewise presented and discussed during the Panel Discussion at the European Health Conference.

A Filipina nurse, Ms. Reyna Java, originally from Iloilo also spoke briefly about her experiences as one of the nursing professionals who entered Germany under the healthcare cooperation program. She acknowledged that the greatest challenge was achieving proficiency in the German Language at a technical level but stated that it could be done with commitment and diligence.

The European Health Congress with over 1,000 delegates brings together experts and resource persons in various health-related fields such as Medical Technology, health professions, academe, researches, public health advocates, among others to discuss latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in healthcare in Europe.

While in Munich, Ambassador Dizon-De Vega also met with Munich Health officials led by Director for Health and Environment Dr. Rudolf Fuchs. END

Philippine Ambassador to Germany Theresa Dizon-De Vega met with officials in charge of development cooperation assistance to the Philippines at the Headquarters of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ) in Bonn, Germany on 16 September 2019.

Ambassador Dizon-De Vega discussed with Ms. Jutta Kranz-Plote, Head of the Ministry’s Policy Division for Southeast Asia and Dr. Stephan Russeck, Senior Policy Officer the state of Philippines-Germany development cooperation and the new cooperation initiatives and programs of Germany in Philippines, particularly in Mindanao.

Germany is one of the Philippines most important development cooperation partners with Official Development Assistance (ODA) of more than USD 40 million in grants as of 2018. END