TACLOBAN CITY ? The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has opened applications for a second batch of nurses who would volunteer to work in rural areas under a government program to earn while getting trained.

The department said the first batch of nurses has completed its six-month tour of duty to the most impoverished areas of Eastern Visayas under the Nurses Assigned in Rural Areas (NARS) program.

Forter Puguon, labor regional director, said the NARS program was part of government efforts to generate jobs for the unemployed to cope with the effects of the global recession on Filipino workers.

He said applicants would be deployed to their hometowns in the rural areas to undergo six months training in providing public health services and in performing clinical functions under the guidance of hospitals and other medical facilities.

?The purpose [of NARS] is to enable them [applicants] to be in a better position to get employed through this specialized training,? Puguon said.

Under the NARS program, each nurse-trainee would get a monthly stipend of P8,000 but some municipalities give an additional stipend of P2,000 to P8,000 to each trainee, he added.

Puguon said nurses who would like to participate in the program should be 35 years old or younger, must have a valid nurse license issued by the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC), must be a resident of a NARS-beneficiary municipality and had no nursing-related practice for one to three years.

The department had deployed 488 nurses to 113 municipalities.

The department has allocated 575 slots for the region.

Puguon said there were no applicants for the towns of Jipapad in Eastern Samar and Silvino Lobos in Northern Samar.

He said seven towns in Eastern Samar had less than five applicants.

Labor officials would deploy at least 600 nurses next.

Puguon said some companies have agreed to bankroll the expenses of some nurses who enrol in the program.