Wednesday, April 19, 2006
RP still has enough nurses despite 'brain drain': health exec
DESPITE the migration of nurses to other countries where they can earn more, an official of the University of the Philippines-National Institute for Health (UP-NIH) said there is no shortage of nurses in the country.
"We are not in a shortage as far as nurses are concern because we produce more than what we need, however what we lack are skilled or specialized nurses," said Dr. Fely Marilyn Lorenzon of the UP-NIH, who presented a case study on the migration of health workers.
Lorenzon said the three top destinations of nurses now are Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the US, and the United Kingdom.
The country has 460 nursing schools, which produce 15,000 to 35,000 nurses annually while about 2,000 doctors graduate from 36 medical schools yearly, it was learned from Lorenzon.
Medical and nursing schools also produce other health related course graduates like dentists, physical therapists and midwives.
Meanwhile, Dr. Fernando Sanchez, executive director of the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges (APMC), said with the exodus of nurses and other medical practitioners to other countries continues, the Philippines has come a global source of health professionals.
Sanchez, who was commissioned by the Department of Health (DOH) to conduct a study on the migration of health workers, revealed that nurses, particularly the skilled ones, have been leaving the country to work overseas since 1994. That year, an estimated 100,000 nurses have left the Philippines to work abroad and from 2000 to 2003 another 50,000 nurses have gone abroad, Sanchez said in his study presented Tuesday during the World Health Day seminar held at the Ateneo de Manila in Makati City sponsored by Zuellig Foundation Inc.
Sanchez however lamented that the so-called "medical brain drain" has resulted in the closure of many tertiary hospitals in several provinces nationwide.
Hospitals in Surigao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Sulu and two others in Isabela province have no more nurses, Sanchez said.
"Mass migration has severely strained this underserved part of the country and all rural areas in the Philippines are in fact vulnerable to health human resources deficiencies," Sanchez said.
Both Lorenzo and Sanchez admitted that the lack of adequate programs for health workers is the prime reason why Filipino nurses opt to go abroad, not to mention "colonial mentality" and the "attractive quality life" for nurses and their families in other countries.
Other factors that have prompted the migration of health workers are the deteriorating quality of nursing education in the country and the unstable socio-economic and political situation. (MSN/Sunnex)
(April 19, 2006 issue)
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