MORE and more Filipino women, like those working as care-givers, are showing interest in becoming embalmers or professional morticians, an industry official said.
Philippine Embalmers and Morticians Association (Pema) president Sarah Dychangco said women, especially those that have taken care-giving courses, are now venturing into the funeral services industry to become embalmers as they foresee a huge demand for this type of job abroad.
“A lot of embalmers abroad are nearing age retirement and so the demand is so huge. Now, you see caregivers wanting to become embalmers because of the hefty salary,†Dychangco said, who is also president of the Pacific Center for Advanced Studies (PCAS).
In an interview with reporters, she said that in order to gain competitive advantage as professional embalmers, more women, even those outside of Cebu, have started to take advanced studies on embalming at PCAS, the first formal embalming and mortuary training school in the Asia Pacific.
PCAS is found at Nivel Hills, Cebu City.
Great chancesDychangco said the good reputation of Filipinos as world-class caregivers is something that the country can capitalize on as embalming has become an extended service in the global care-giving industry.
“Caregivers abroad, who have embalming skills, have greater chances of (getting a) huge income as this kind of service pays higher than the basic care giving,†she said.
Jeffrey Chancellor, Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes Inc. (CFHI) consultant and PCAS chairman, earlier said that an average embalmer or mortician abroad earns more than $30,000 annually or roughly P1.2 million based on the current foreign exchange rate.
Apart from the Philippines, demand for professional embalmers is seen in the United States (US), Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Chancellor said the US government recently opened employment opportunities for this profession, through a guest worker program as the demand for skilled embalmers has risen to 50,000.
Last year, Canada also announced it needed to hire 200 professional embalmers, he said.
However, Philippine Mortuary Association president Renato Dychangco Jr. earlier pointed out that while the mortuary industry is a “sunrise industry,†he understands the call to “change its image†if it wants to lure more people to become professional embalmers, especially since it is a misconstrued profession in the Philippines.
He said there is a need to professionalize the funeral services industry by upgrading the standard of death care services. (MMM)
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