The Department of Health (DoH) on Wednesday disclosed that the country is facing a shortage of 190,000 health workers.

DoH Secretary Teodoro Herbosa revealed during a Palace briefing that thousands of medical workers are needed to fill in the gaps in the country’s healthcare systems.

“We will need the human resources, so we saw the gap,” Herbosa said, as he highlighted the development of Bagong Urgent Care and Ambulatory Services (BUCAS) Centers.

“That’s with the net flow, including those who migrated and those who became overseas Filipino workers plus who will graduate from our schools,” he added.

Herbosa also said that hiring of medical practitioners will continue, citing that there are scholarship programs for those who want to obtain a career in the medical field.

“The program is still ongoing because most of them have gotten scholarships through the private sector — the Private Sector Advisory Council for Health members — and there are those who have actually passed,” Herbosa said.

“So there are those who have already enrolled there, some have already passed and some of them, I think a more than 140, they’re now hired as nurses because they have passed,” he added.