FRONTLINERS On duty health workers at the Santa Ana hospital in Manila. INQUIRER file photo / EDWIN BACASMAS
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) on Tuesday was urged to improve the staffing of nurses in the country due to unfilled positions.
Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) made the call during the consultative meeting on the Senate Bill (SB) No. 890 or the Rightsizing the National Government Act of 2022, filed by Senate President Francis Escudero.
“Sana if the DBM can improve a new study more on the staffing of the nurses because we understand that there are a lot of unfilled positions… The hospital needs a lot of positions open for these nurses. These are unfilled, and they are either put on job order,” Dr. Gloria Yang, treasurer of PNA Governor National Capital Region Zone 1, said in the meeting.
(I hope the DBM can improve a new study on the staffing of nurses because we understand that there are a lot of unfilled positions… The hospital needs a lot of positions open for these nurses. These are unfilled and either put on a job order or not.)
Yang underscored that nurses employed under the job order would gain experience in months or for six months and then proceed to work abroad.countrythe
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“I’d like to request the DBM to look into, please remove the job order positions for nurses and also remove the contractualization kasi kawawa ang mga nurses (because the nurses are at a disadvantage),” Yang added.
The doctor also called on the DBM to standardize the salary for nurses in the private and public hospitals.
Escudero seconded the doctor’s call, adding that: “Dapat parehas yung sahod ng mismong private at ng national at local dahil nagkukumpitensya at nag-aagawan kami ng nurse.”
(The salary of nurses in private and national and local [hospitals] should be equal so we don’t have a shortage in nurses.)
In September 2022, the Makabayan bloc filed House Bill 4599 that seeks to provide a P50,000 salary for nurses both in the public and private hospitals.
The bill said that under the 2022 salary standardization law for the entry-level position, nurses in government hospitals are paid P32,097 while private hospital nurses get between P8,000 to P13,500 monthly.
Further, DBM Undersecretary Wilford Wong said that nurses, doctors and other medical personnel such as medical technologists and radiologic technologists are included in the rightsizing program.
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“Because upon meeting with the Office of the President a few months back because there has been a balloon daw po in the nursing positions that need to be reviewed as well by the DOH [Department of Health],” Wong noted.
According to SB No. 890, rightsizing is expected to “promote efficiency, effectiveness and economy in the delivery of public service.”
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman previously said that with the proposal, the government may save “a significant amount of the budget” that could be used to fund other programs.