The United Kingdom has declined the Philippines’ proposal to deploy more Filipino medical professionals to their country in exchange for supplies of COVID-19 vaccines.

UK Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce stated that UK has no plans to accept such proposals, stating that the two subjects are “separate issues” altogether.

“We’ve got no plans to link vaccines with those conversations around the recruitment of nurses. You know those two strands of conversation I think continue but as I’ve said again we have no plans to link those two issues,” said Pruce during a virtual conference.

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Pruce’s statement comes following the proposal of the Department of Labor and Employment to form an agreement with UK and Germany to lift the cap on the deployment of healthcare workers, provided that the two countries provide vaccines for overseas Filipino workers, including those who are about to be deployed.

Pruce confirmed that the proposal was discussed during his recent meeting with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III but declined to go into detail.

While seemingly opposed to the offer, Pruce said he would be meeting with the Labor chief in the coming weeks to “continue our wider discussions.”

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Pruce acknowledged that the thousands of Filipino healthcare workers in Britain have made a significant contribution to the Covid-19 response of the National Health Service (NHS). This said, the NHS is “keen” to sustain the continuous flow of these professionals from the Philippines into the UK, as per reports from the Philippine News Agency.

“So yes, in common with our practice in previous years, we continue to discuss with the government of the Philippines the arrangements whereby Filipino healthcare workers can continue to work in the UK, primarily in the NHS,” he said.

He noted that the British government and him, personally, are “very heavily engaged” to support Manila in its efforts to secure access to vaccines that are safe and effective and are developed transparently.

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