Half of Filipinos work in NHS, jokes duke

The duke of Edinburgh has joked about the number of Filipinos working in the NHS telling a nurse her country must now be half-empty, it has been reported.

Philip, husband to Britain’s queen and famed for his off-the-cuff remarks, made the hospital worker from the Philippines laugh with his comment during a visit to open a cardiac centre.

BBC Online reported the duke as saying to the unnamed woman: “The Philippines must be half-empty — you’re all here running the NHS.”

Philip’s remark came during a visit to Luton and Dunstable University Hospital yesterday, where he launched a cardiac centre.

A spokeswoman for the hospital described the royal visit as a huge boost for staff morale and said that the duke was in a jovial mood, making jokes throughout his tour.

Philip had a stent fitted to clear a blockage in a coronary artery in December 2011 and during the visit when he was given a gold-plated stent he joked that he now had a spare.

The duke is well-known for his outspoken comments and famously told British students during a 1986 state visit to China: “If you stay here much longer, you’ll all be slitty- eyed.”

He also once told a group of deaf youngsters: “Deaf? If you are near there, no wonder you are deaf,” referring to a school’s steel band.