By Clarist Zablan
(June 12, 2023) – The health department has been pushing to relax licensing rules for nurses so fresh graduates can be allowed to work in government facilities, the health secretary said on Monday, citing a need to address the exodus of nursing professionals in the country.
Teodoro Herbosa said he has been talking with the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) on the possibility of providing three-year temporary licenses to nursing graduates so they can work in the government.
Only licensed nurses are allowed to work in the government’s health facilities.
“Sa gobyerno lang muna tayo kasi mahirap kung palawakin natin sa private at baka doon naman sa private pumunta,” Herbosa said in a radio program hosted by Senator Francis Tolentino. “So if you’re going to go to government and work in a place na malayo, walang nurse, i-allow ka ng PRC since you are a four-year graduate.”
The Philippines needs 114,000 more physicians and 127,000 nurses to address a shortage of health professionals in the country, the health department said last May.
Workers’ groups in the health sector have blamed the shortage of healthcare workers in the country on the “brain drain,” where medical professionals seek greener pastures abroad due to low wages and poor labor conditions locally.
A 2020 study from data aggregator iPrice Group showed Filipino nurses receive the lowest pay among their peers in the Southeast Asian region, earning only an average of P40,381 a month. In comparison, nurses in other parts of the region receive monthly salaries ranging from P63,000 in Vietnam and P236,000 in Singapore.
Tolentino had urged the new leadership of the health department to implement measures such as increasing nurses’ compensation and improving their training to encourage more of them to stay in the country.
Last week, the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) urged Herbosa to carry out programs and policies to improve the welfare of nurses in the country such as opening additional plantilla positions in public hospitals, providing scholarships to aspiring nurses, and expediting the disbursement of delayed benefits.
Last year, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. pledged to address the disparity of wages of nurses in the public and private sectors as well as the uneven distribution of nurses in different parts of the country.
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