Saskatchewan makes job offers to more than 160 Filipino health-care workers

The Saskatchewan Health Authority has offered jobs to 161 Filipino health-care workers under the provincial government’s Health Human Resources Action Plan.

The government launched the action plan in hopes of adding more than 1,000 employees to its health-care system. That will include hundreds of workers who are to be recruited over the next two years from abroad.

In a media release Monday, the government said offers have been made to 138 registered nurses, 21 continuing care assistants and two medical lab assistants from the Philippines. The government noted one continuing care assistant from the Philippines already has started working in Moose Jaw.

Health Minister Paul Merriman led a delegation to the Philippines recently in an attempt to hire health-care workers.

“Our government is committed to strengthening and building a more robust health-care workforce in Saskatchewan, and it’s critical that we work closely with our partners here in Saskatchewan and overseas to ensure progress continues,” Merriman said in the release.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) also has filled 84 positions as it creates new full-time positions and changes vacant part-time positions to full-time in nine high-priority classifications in rural and remote locations that have been dealing with service disruptions.

As of Dec. 9, 24 more positions are in the hiring process and another 55 are posted. According to the government, about 75 per cent of those positions have been filled by casual, temporary or part-time staff.

The government also recently expanded eligibility for the Saskatchewan Rural and Remote Recruitment Incentive, which offers up to $50,000 for a three-year return-in-service agreement.

“Our plan is delivering on what we have been hearing from front-line health care workers,” Minister of Rural and Remote Health Everett Hindley said in the release. “They wanted to see more permanent jobs, more full-time work and we are seeing progress in many centres across Saskatchewan by bolstering resources.”

More than 600 applications have been received from internationally educated health-care workers within Saskatchewan and Canada, with 510 from the province and 101 from other provinces.

As well, the new Grad Nurse Expression of Interest initiative that matches graduates with an area based on skills and preferences generated 52 expressions of interest and 22 graduates accepted conditional offers.