Philippine doctors and nurses

The NYTimes is worried about Filippine doctors and nurses going abroad...

The key paragraph is this one:

But above all, the study found, salaries were a major factor, averaging $3,000 to $4,000 a month, compared with $180 to $220 a month in the Philippines.

Duh...
We pay our maids 100 pesos a day, plus room and board...that comes to 60 dollars a month plus food. Our drives get twice that.

Our relatives work as doctors here, because they managed to get a public health job, but now have a good private practice....Dr. Ange's charge for an office visit is 120 pesos (four dollars)...so as you see, she makes more than the quote.
However, our relatives who are nurses don't work here, because they would be paid $120 to $180 a month...

Tuition at a nearby private high school is 1500 pesos a month (30 dollars).

Rice is 30 pesos a kilo (30 cents a pound). You can buy a small house for 20 000 dollars here in the country.

But if you live in Manila, most things cost almost the same as in the USA.
So it would be impossible for our relatives to work here and support a family on $180 a month.

So many of our relatives now live in Chicago. Others work inLondon, or spend a couple years at a time in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait (they prefer Kuwait, since they can practice their religion there)...

Indeed, there are 400 000 Filippinos in the Middle East right now, supporting extended families on their salaries. Most are nannies or maids or oil workers.

Actually, when my husband was left head of the family, he was the one who left to go to the USA to support the family and put all of his neices and nephews thru school.

You want to stop the brain drain?

Clean up the government and all these skilled workers will come home and the Philippines will be the new Singapore...

Hello, Gloria, Garci is still on the line...