DOH: Don’t make nurses pay to work in hospitals

The Department of Health (DOH)   ordered an end to the practice of making registered nurses pay to work as trainees in public hospitals.

DOH memorandum 2011-2038  dated Aug. 22 and signed by  Secretary Enrique Ona  orders the termination of nurse training programs in all public hospitals in the country since it is “not consistent with the provisions of the law.”

The health secretary lashed out at hospitals who promote “nurse volunteerism to justify the collection of training fees.”

He said the basic skills training to which the nurses are exposed “put no added value to the professional career of the nurses.”

The issuance of the memorandum was announced in yesterday’s a press conference on the Philippine Nurses Association’s 54th Nurses Week and  Annual Convention, which will be held  from  Oct. 25 to Oct. 27 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel.

Dr. Lakshmi Legaspi, DOH in Central Visayas  assistant regional director, however,  said the program was a way for hospitals to get additional manpower and for the nurses to learn.

She said under the program, a nurse pays P500 per month to complete a three-month training  in Cebu’s DOH-run hospitals: Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, St Anthony Mother and Child Hospital in Basak San Nicolas  Cebu City, Talisay District Hospital and the Eversley Childs Sanitarium in Mandaue City.

Genelyn Eborde, 23, a registered nurse, has been training in VSMMC for more than two months.

“I learned a lot from my experiences here, which I can use when I work,” Eborde said. She said part of their training is to do nursing endorsements and check patients in the wards.

“If we’re here, the work would be divided. If the training will stop, it will mean more work for the staff nurses,” Eborde said.

However, she said she  looks forward to the implementation of the memorandum since it would give nurses a chance to be part of the regular hospital  staff.

A  member of the hospital’s executive committee said the hospital can adjust when the trainees  go.

“The operations of the hospital would not be crippled if the program would end,” said the female officer who requested anonymity.

She said trainees are actually additional “work” for staff nurses since they need mentoring and guidance  in doing their duty.