MANILA (AFP) - The Philippine government is to seek an apology from the producers of the hit US television series "Desperate Housewives" for a racial slur against Filipino medics, the Philippine Daily Inquirer said on its web site Wednesday.
The officials cited a recent episode where actress Teri Hatcher (pictured), who plays Susan Mayer, asked whether the person attending to her during a medical consultation "can I check those diplomas because I want to make sure that they're not from some med school in the Philippines."
Asked if the government would seek an apology from the producers of the show, and ABC television network that carries it, executive secretary Eduardo Ermita said: "Yes, I think we should, on behalf of our Filipino professionals."
"On the face, we can look at it as a racial slur. We are looked down upon too much, considering the number of our medical professionals in the US," the Inquirer quoted Ermita as saying.
Ermita likewise appealed to civil society groups and other Filipino organisations in the US to "call the attention" of the show producers, and Hatcher, to the "racial slur."
Filipino consul in Los Angeles Mary Jo Bernardo Aragon wrote a letter of complaint to the ABC network saying that Filipino medical workers were in demand all over the world.
"The US recognises the students of Philippine medical and nursing schools and in general, does not require additional schooling in the US for Filipino healthcare professionals," she added.
Aragon also said many Americans go to the Philippines for medical services that they cannot afford at home, the foreign department said in a statement.