To discourage Filipino nurses from flocking to higher-paying jobs abroad, Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan seeks to raise the salaries of entry-level government nurses in the country to P30,531.
“In the end, the goal of this proposal is to improve the nursing profession and boost the quality of health care for all Filipinos,” Pangilinan said in his Senate Bill 260.
As this developed, Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go filed Senate Bill No. 395, or the Advanced Nursing Education Act of 2019.
The neophyte senator cited the need to elevate the status of the country as a producer of leaders, experts, and authorities in the field of medicine, particularly nursing.
Pangilinan noted that Filipino nurses in the Philippines “endure low salaries, long working hours, physical and mental burnout, and high nurse-patient ratio.”
These factors force them to seek greener pastures and bring their expertise abroad, the senator said.
“So, we have a situation of Filipinos taking care of the health of foreigners while our ‘kababayans’ hardly ever see a health professional,” Pangilinan said.
Go’s measure, meanwhile, seeks to protect and improve the nursing profession “by instituting measures that will result in relevant nursing education, humane working conditions, better career prospects, and a dignified existence for our nurses.”
Some current nursing programs in the country, Go said, emphasize on deploying Filipino nurses abroad.
He said this situation drove him to work on the proposed measure to encourage these health workers to render their service in the country instead.
SB 395 will also require the establishment of standard basic and graduate programs for nursing education, to be established in Commission on Higher Education-accredited institutions of higher learning.
Under the basic program, students will be mandated to undergo community integration and immersion to encourage them to work in various communities.
Meanwhile, a graduate program will be built on the experiences and skills of the nurses towards mastery, expertise and leadership in practice, research and education.
The faculty-to-student ratio will also be in accordance with the standard to be determined by CHED.
A National Nursing Admission Test also needs to be hurdled by aspiring nurses in order to ensure the quality of students getting in the program.
The Advanced Nursing Education Act is among several bills Go filed this month that seek to improve healthcare in the country and the protection of professionals in the public health system.
The World Health Organization estimates that around 22,000 health professionals leave the Philippines annually to work abroad, making the country the world’s largest source of nurses.
In the United States alone, almost 50 percent of total foreign nurses are Filipinos.
As health professionals leave the country, the Philippine health system suffers, Pangilinan noted. Of the 70 percent of Filipinos living in rural areas, only 10 percent benefit from the services of medical professionals.
In his bill, Pangilinan proposes that entry-level nurses working in government institutions receive a salary not lower than Salary Grade 15 (SG-15) or equivalent to P30,531 to improve the lives of the nurses and their families.
He cited data from the Department of Labor and Employment’s Bureau of Local Employment, which shows that an entry-level registered nurse in the country receives a monthly salary of P8,000 to P13,500. Nurses in government hospitals receive an average monthly salary of P13,500, while those employed in private hospitals get about P10,000.
To address concerns over low compensation and ease the burden of Filipino nurses, Pangilinan’s solution aims to provide a comprehensive nursing law toward a quality health care system.
Senate Bill 260 proposes to put in place mechanisms toward relevant nursing practices, just and humane working conditions, and the promotion of professional growth of nurses to enhance their general welfare and commitment to service.
