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Jennifer Purgill
TSEA, Period 6
1 December 2010
Brain Drain in the Philippines
Draining of the Philippines
Brain Drain is when the skilled workers and professionals of one country migrate to
another place in search of a better life or simply for higher wages. There are both positive and
negative effects associated with the movement. The brain drain is known to cause social and
economic problems for the government of the country where the workers are leaving as well as
for the citizens of that country. In many cases, the country cannot continue to develop when there
are many professionals leaving the country. The brain drain in the Philippines is a big problem
for both the government as well as for the common citizens. However, there are positive effects
for the migrant workers as well as for their families. There has been an increase of skilled
Filipino workers and professionals choosing to live overseas to find work (“Brain Drain”) and
almost 10% of the population of the Philippines is now working overseas for higher paying, less-
skilled jobs (Morella). An example of this is that there are up to 90,000 Filipino nurses that have
moved abroad to work in the past 10 year (“Medical Apocalypse”). Although there are some
economic and social benefits for the migrant workers, the Filipino government should take steps
to reduce the brain drain due to the economic and social problems it brings as well as the fact
that it is hindering the overall development of the country.
Supporters of Filipino professionals leaving the country to work abroad argue that there
are economic benefits for both the migrant workers and the nation as a whole. One example of

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how Filipino workers leaving the country brings economic benefit is the remittances that the
overseas workers send home to their families. In 2005, $8.5 billion was sent home to families by
overseas workers (Morella). Last year, workers sent home $17.3 billion dollars in remittances
and to invest, which made up more than 10% of the Philippines GDP (Macaraig). It can be seen
that there is an increase in the amount of money being sent home to the Philippines as the years
goes on, meaning that there is also an increase in the amount of workers leaving the country.
This is a positive economic effect in the Philippines because it helps raise the amount of money
flowing in the Philippines, which is good for the government, and it also raises the amount of
money a family of an overseas worker has. Another economic benefit to the professionals
leaving the country is that many workers earn higher salaries when working abroad. The doctors
who now work abroad earn about $8,000 a month, which is sixteen times the amount of money
they would make working in a government hospital in the Philippines (Morella). This is a
positive effect for the doctors because they can now earn more money to have a better life and
send more money back home as well. A third economic benefit to the professionals leaving the
Philippines is that the government now wants to try and keep the workers in the country so that
they can have skilled workers as well. This is a positive effect because the government has been
trying to find ways to raise the salaries of the workers and to add more benefits for them
(Macaraig). Because of remittances, higher salaries, and the government trying to add more
benefits for workers, the skilled workers leaving the country could be a good thing.
While it is true that there are some economic benefits to skilled Filipino professionals
leaving the country to work abroad, the reality is that there are many economic problems which
develop in the Philippines due to the brain drain. One example of the economic problems that
develop from the brain drain is the closing of hospitals in the Philippines. There were over 200

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hospitals that were forced to close from the years of 2002 to 2007 because of the lack of doctors
who left to find better paying jobs in other countries and because the hospitals could not fund
themselves (Hennessey). Another statistic states that 10% of the Philippines’ 2,500 hospitals
have been closed down in recent years because of the same problems (“Medical Apocalypse”).
This economic issue related to the workers leaving the Philippines has a very negative impact on
the country because some citizens now cannot receive proper health care or if there is an accident,
there may not be a hospital close by. A third economic problem with the professionals leaving
the country, such as doctors, is that hospitals cannot afford to buy the supplies they need to take
care of their patients properly (Morella). This is a big problem because if the hospitals cannot
afford to properly take care of their patients, then the patients cannot be treated or get whatever
problem they have, fixed. Because of these reasons, the brain drain in the Philippines has a very
negative economic effect on the country.
Promoters of Filipino workers migrating to other countries to find work argue that there
are some social benefits associated with this. Most of the social benefits are related to the
country receiving the workers rather than with the country losing them, but there are some
benefits for the country providing the workers as well. One social benefit associated with
professionals leaving the Philippines is that the Filipino workers can fill the gap of shortages of
quality doctors and registered nurses in Western nations (Hennessey). This is a positive effect for
the western nations because they gain more professionals and can fill the gap of skilled workers
which they are currently facing. Another social benefit associated with the professionals leaving
the Philippines is that allowing the migration of the brightest workers from a developing country
could possibly encourage more people to acquire education since overall, the world values
education (Hennessey). This as a positive social benefit because it creates a positive image for

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the Philippines because the most highly skilled workers are being shown off in other countries
and it shows that the Philippines promotes education and people can have a future.
Many people argue the fact that there are many social problems which develop as a result
of the brain drain in the Philippines. Because of the masses of doctors and other medical
professionals leaving the country, many Filipinos cannot receive the proper medical care that
they need. According to recent statistics, the ratio of doctors to Filipinos in the Philippines is
around 1:28,000, which is one doctor for every 28,000 Filipinos (“Medical Apocalypse”). This is
a very big social problem because there are not enough doctors to care for the large population in
the Philippines. About 2,000 doctors leave the Philippines each year (Morella). This is dangerous
for the country because eventually the gap between the number of doctors in the Philippines
compared to the population could increase to an even higher level. There are almost no
anesthetists left, very few obstetricians, a dropping number of pediatricians left in the Philippines
(Morella) and there are about 120 municipalities without a doctor (“Medical Apocalypse”).
Because of this, there are many people who go without proper health care in the Philippines.
The main reason why the brain drain in the Philippines should be stopped is because it is
preventing the overall development of the country because of the skilled professionals leaving
the country to work abroad. When the skilled professionals of a country leave, then the country
cannot develop properly because they lose the people who would help create progress and can
build up the country for example in the medical field. 25% of all overseas nurses worldwide
come from the Philippines; it is the largest source of doctors in hospitals abroad (“Medical
Apocalypse”). This shortage of doctors makes it harder for the Philippines to become more
medically advanced because it lacks the necessary staff to help conduct research. As mentioned
before, the ratio of doctors to Filipinos in the Philippines is around 1:28,000, which shows a

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significant gap between the amount of doctors per patient (“Medical Apocalypse”). In Singapore,
the doctor to patient ratio is about 1:770, meaning there is one doctor for every 770 Singaporean
citizens (Yin). Since Singapore has more doctors according to these statistics, they are able to do
more medical research. An example of this is the Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI).
SCRI tries to improve the care of patients by conducting clinical research and it promotes
industry-sponsored and academic studies of clinical trials. This institute is devoted to improving
the scientific leadership, infrastructure, and intellectual leadership in Singapore.The institute is
currently researching over 30 studies at the moment(“Singapore”). All of this research being
done by Singapore shows how the amount of doctors in a country can make a difference to the
development of a country and how much research is being done. Because of these doctors
leaving the Philippines to work as nurses abroad, the country is not able to develop properly in
the medical field because there is a shortage of skilled workers left to conduct research and
experiments which could help the country progress.
Because of the many social and economic problems caused by the brain drain as well as
discouraging the development of the Philippines, the government of the Philippines should try
and prevent the growth of the brain drain in the Philippines. Economic problems develop in the
Philippines due to many professionals leaving. Social problems such as not having enough
doctors for the amount of Filipinos in the Philippines and having a large percentage of skilled
workers leave the country. The brain drain in the Philippines prevents the Philippines from
developing because all of the skilled workers are leaving, so there is nobody to do a good job or
to teach the next people.

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Works Cited
“Braindrain in the Philippines - Are All OFWs Real Heroes?” 28 Aug. 2008. Web. 17 Oct. 2010.
Hennessey, Matthew. “Who’s to Blame for Brain Drain?” Policy Innovations.17 July 2007.
Web. 12 Oct. 2010.
Macaraig, Mynardo. “Philippines Suffering from Migrant Brain Drain.” 4 Aug. 2010. Web. 10
Nov. 2010.
"Medical Apocalypse."AsianPacificPost.com | Chinese Newspaper, Filipino Newspaper,
Philippines Newspaper. 13 Aug. 2008. Web. 12 Nov. 2010.Morella, Cecil.
Morella, Cecil. “Medical Brain Drain Threat to Philippines.” 23 April 2005. Web. 10 Nov. 2010.
“Singapore Clinical Research Institute.”Singapore Clinical Research Institute (SCRI). 2010.
Web. 1 Dec. 2010.
Yin, Wong. “SMA News.” Singapore Medical Association.Web.1 Dec. 2010.