Marcos to Ched: Address shortage of nurses
PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. ordered on Wednesday, March 29, 2023, the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) to come up with “concrete” measures aimed at addressing the shortage of nurses.
Marcos said due to higher pay, the country’s nurses opt to work abroad instead of serving in the country, badly affecting the delivery of effective healthcare in the Philippines.
“We have to be clever about the healthcare manpower. Our nurses are the best, buong mundo na ang kalaban natin ditto (we are competing against other countries in the world),” Marcos said during a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) Healthcare Sector group in Malacañang.
“Lahat ng nakakausap kong President, Prime Minister, ang hinihingi (they are asking for) is more nurses from the Philippines,” he added.
In response, Ched Chairperson Prospero de Vera III said among the interventions they were carrying out to keep Filipino nurses working in the country are retooling board non-passers, adopting nursing curriculum with exit credentials, redirecting non-practicing nurses and conducting exchange programs with other countries.
He said nursing students with exit credentials were also given several options, such as to exit at the end of Level I or II, obtain the certificate or diploma in nursing, or choose to continue and finish the four-year nursing program to become a registered nurse.
De Vera said they are also working on a flexible short-term master’s program to address the lack of instructors in nursing and medical schools.
For its part, the Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said they are looking into the standardization of salaries for nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers, stressing it is the major reason for these people to leave the country and work abroad.
The agency is also assessing the status of the proposed legislation on the Magna Carta for Public Health Care Workers and Philippine Nursing Act to ensure the welfare of healthcare workers.
Vergeire earlier raised the need for the Magna Carta Public Health Workers, which was enacted 30 years ago, to be amended to cover both public and private healthcare workers in the country.
Among the salient features of the proposed legislation are additional compensation, provision of hazard pay, and educational assistance for healthcare workers.
Earlier, Marcos said the government may resort to giving out scholarship programs for aspiring nurses and other medical workers as other countries “scramble” to find healthcare professionals.
Under the scholarship program, Marcos said those who will finish their courses will have to first serve in the country for a few years before they will be allowed to work abroad, noting that the government cannot prevent them from leaving the country given the high salary abroad.
It was also agreed during the meeting Wednesday, March 29, that the PSAC will monitor new technologies in healthcare that can be used for geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas and recommend those to the DOH and PhilHealth.
The PSAC will also study the feasibility of establishing remote diagnostics centers and assess new medical technologies and their costs. (SunStar Philippines)