DESPITE the low pay, some 1,600 new nurses were urged to stay and work in the country as the pandemic continues to pose threats to public health.
Passers of the nursing board exams from the Visayas and Mindanao joined the mass oathtaking and induction ceremony on Saturday, January 28, 2023, at the IEC Convention Center in Cebu City.
Rolly Villarin, vice president for programs and development of the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) Cebu chapter, requested the new nurses to be patriotic and serve the country first.
“We need you and the pandemic has proven that the country needs nurses. Hone your skills and hopefully they will not be encouraged to work abroad,” Villarin said in an interview after the ceremony.
“More than 1,000 new nurses took their oath of profession. This number is already a big help in addressing the shortage of manpower in the hospitals. We are facing a shortage of nurses,” he said.
Last October, the Department of Health reported a shortage of 106,000 nurses and other healthcare workers that are needed to man both public and private health facilities all over the country.
The newly inducted nurses were among the passers of the November 2022 Professional Nursing Licensure Examination, which yielded over 18,000 board passers out of the 25,000 nursing graduates who took the exam.
The Professional Regulations Commission 7, the Board of Nursing, the PNA and the Association of Deans of Philippine Colleges of Nursing Inc. resumed the face-to-face oathtaking for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020.
During the event, the top performing schools were also recognized, including Cebu Normal University, Cebu Doctors University and Velez College.
Villarin’s appeal came as a Cebuano legislator filed a bill seeking to increase the starting salary of nurses in the private sector to P35,000 a month in an attempt to keep nurses from leaving hospitals and the country.
BILL
Cebu City South District Rep. Edu Rama’s House Bill 4609, or the Magna Carta of Private Health Workers, seeks to increase the pay and grant benefits to private healthcare workers.
The PNA commended Rama for the proposed bill, citing the disparity between the salary of nurses in government hospitals and nurses working in private hospitals.
Jacob Erm Jericho Dolino, public relations officer of the PNA Cebu chapter, told SunStar Cebu on Friday, Jan. 27, that if the bill is approved, it will benefit nurses in the private sector and may help keep them in the country.
Nurses in private hospitals in Cebu are reportedly paid P16,000 to P20,000 a month while nurses in government hospitals are paid P32,000 to P33,000.
“Kasagaran man gud sa mga bill nga mapasar kay it always addresses the public, di man ingon nga malimtam ang private pero ang atung government kay dili man ka push through sa pag-implement sa increase sa salary sa mga nurses sa private (Most of the bills that are passed into law benefit those in the government. It’s not that they forgot about the nurses in the private hospitals but the government could not implement a salary increase for nurses in the private sector),” Dolino said.
The proposed bill is also seen to alleviate the shortage of professional nurses in the country.
Dolino said increasing the entry salary may convince new graduates and seasoned nurses to continue working in the hospitals.
He noted the “sad” reality that many nursing graduates over the years had chosen to work in other industries or in other countries where they could earn more.
Aside from setting the minimum starting salary, the bill also seeks to provide private healthcare workers a monthly hazard pay of at least P10,000 for working during the implementation of a community quarantine, and whose nature of work is subject to health hazards or occupational risks, regardless of their degree of exposure to the same.
They shall also be entitled to benefits provided under the Labor Code, Magna Carta of Public Health Workers, or Republic Act 7305, and other relevant laws, rules, or regulations.
The bill will also protect healthcare workers against discrimination based on their age, gender, gender identity, civil status, qualified person with a disability, creed, religious or political beliefs and ethnic groupings in the exercise of his/her profession.
“What happened during the pandemic was a wake-up call for us to improve our healthcare system, not only in terms of medical equipment but to empower and protect our healthcare personnel. We saw their tireless efforts and commitment during those trying times, and it’s only right to provide them with better financial security and benefits,” Rama said in a statement.
IMPACT ON HOSPITALS
Though the bill will benefit nurses, Villarin and Dolino warned about its impact on the stakeholders.
Dolino said any increase in the hospital workers’ salary will affect the operations of private hospitals as some may not have the financial capacity to do so.
He said the government should be ready to help private hospitals in implementing the said legislative measures.
“With the current situation, if the hospitals cannot afford a pay hike, they could incur losses and our nurses will end up losing their job,” Dolino said.
Villarin said it would be good if nurses in both private and public hospitals have the same pay, but the government should step in to minimize its impact on the patients.
He said hospital charges will increase if private hospitals have to increase the salary of nurses, or worse, some hospitals may be forced to shut down.
“There will be consequences in the future, but hopefully before the bill is passed, there could be a win-win solution. Otherwise, our community will suffer,” Villarin said.