UAE-based Filipino among 10 shortlisted for nursing award

Eleven years as an expatriate in the UAE, a Dabawenyo from Davao City in Southern Philippines is among the Top IO for the 2025 edition of an international competition, born in Dubai four years back, that not only acknowledges the admirable infectious contributions of the nursing profession globally; but, more importantly, continually raises the bar for improvements in healthcare delivery.

- Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

He is Mediclinic City Hospital Dubai Nursing manager Fitz Gerald Dalina Camacho, who told Gulf Today, ahead of the third week of May awarding ceremony, of the “Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award,” that it was curiosity about the nursing profession that led him to lay aside his primary ambition of becoming a lawyer.

"I wanted to study law because I was interested in advocacy which, I thought was the best way to help people. But over time, through my friends who were taking up nursing and sharing their experiences, I saw how much they enjoyed and how meaningful their work was. Especially how they were directly involved in caring for the people."

All aspirants to the international competition, that gifts grand winners with a $250,000.00 (Dhs918,250.00) prize money, go through a stringent evaluation process led by expert and grand jury panel members.

Organiser Aster DM Healthcare catalogued an increase of over 22,000 applications from the over 78,000 registrations for the third round in 2024 - for a total of at least 100,000 this year from 199 countries, down from 202 in 2024.