Zubiri: Want nurses to stay in PH? Then increase their salaries

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri Senate PRIB file photo

MANILA, Philippines — Following President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s order for the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) to address the mass exodus of Filipino nurses to explore employment opportunities abroad, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has doubled down on his stance that Filipino workers, nurses included, are leaving the country due to insufficient wages.

“Small private hospitals here pay nurses as low as P15,000 to P20,000 a month,” Zubiri stressed. “And they are likely overworked, looking after more than their fair share of patients as more and more of their colleagues leave for better pastures abroad.”

“Who can blame them for leaving? Overseas, they earn somewhere around P150,000 to P200,000 a month. Our salaries and benefits offer no competition.”

According to the Department of Health, the country is presently dealing with a shortage of 350,000 nurses.

“If we want nurses to stay in the country, we need to increase their salaries. That’s really the long and short of the diaspora problem that we’re having,” Zubiri added.

“I have no doubt that our nurses want to stay here. They want to be with their families, and they want to help our people. But they need to make a decent living as well, and they need to be paid in wages and benefits that are commensurate to the work that they render. If they don’t get this, then they have no other choice but to leave.”

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