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.”