40 gov’t nurses lose jobs for ‘bad’ bedside manners

CITY OF MALOLOS—Their “bad” bedside manners have cost the jobs of 40 contractual nurses at the government-owned Bulacan Medical Center (BMC) here, officials said last week.

The sacked nurses were subjects of complaints from patients who were offended by their “unfriendly and rude behavior,” Dr. Protacio Bajao, BMC director, said.

The complaints reached Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado, who ordered the dismissal upon the recommendation of Bajao.

Bajao said his office investigated the complaints and had recommended that the contracts of the erring nurses, which lapsed on June 30, should no longer be renewed.

Alvarado said hospital employees, including doctors, who were also accused of bad behavior, would be transferred to district hospitals in outskirt towns.

Some of the nurses who lost their jobs objected to the treatment of their case over the social media. According to some posts, they had been at times irritable because they were overwhelmed by the number of patients at BMC.

A nurse, who asked not to be identified, said they got the ire of some patients who did not receive their medicines on time.

Bajao said these issues had been addressed.

Alvarado said he expected better from the dismissed nurses, who were paid P18,000 monthly. Some received as much as P24,000 each month, he said.

“In Manila, nurses soothe patients when they receive injections. But here at BMC, I was told nurses and doctors sometimes berated their patients,” the governor said. Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon