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Monday, August 22, 2005
More gov't doctors, nurses eye overseas jobs
MORE government doctors and nurses here and in neighboring areas are reportedly planning to seek "greener pastures" abroad due to the continuing failure of the government to provide them with "decent" salaries and benefits, a local health official said.
South Cotabato health officer Edgardo Sandig said government health workers have not received a single cent from the supposed benefits provided for them by Republic Act (RA) 7305 or the Magna Carta of Health Workers, which took effect in 1992.
Sandig, a board member of the Association of Provincial Health Officers of the Philippines (Aphop), said such concern would be discussed by the province's over a thousand health workers in a two-day congress that begins today.
"This is a sad reality for us health workers. So we cannot relay blame our colleagues who have opted to leave their jobs and go overseas to earn a decent pay," he said.
RA 7305 mandates various benefits for government doctors, nurses, midwives, dentists, barangay health workers and sanitation inspectors at both the national and local levels.
The benefits include hazard pay, laundry allowance, subsistence allowance, holiday pay, and even remote allowance or medico-legal allowance.
So far, personnel in the national government's payroll, including volunteers under the "Doctors to the Barrio Program" or the rural health physicians, are reportedly receiving the full benefits provided by such law but majority of health workers under local government units have not received any.
Sandig said government hospitals in the province have been among those hit by the resignations of its nurses and doctors who have opted to study as nurses to work abroad.
Several local doctors on private practice have also enrolled in some local nursing schools, he said.
He lamented that in several instances in South Cotabato, volunteer nurses in government hospitals took advantage of free training then leave the country after gaining experience due to the attractive pay in other parts of the world.
A nurse in the Philippines is only receiving a basic pay of P9,939, way below the monthly pay of a nurse in the United States which is equivalent to P216,000 and P119,000 in the United Kingdom.
The US and the UK are just two of the many countries hiring a large number of nurses.
On the other hand, a full time provincial health officer is receiving P25,000 but other government doctors down the line reportedly receive at least P15,841 a month. (Allen V. Estabillo)
For Bisaya stories from General Santos.Click here. (This section is updated every Monday)
(August 22, 2005 issue)
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