Nurses group urges Marcos admin: Raise entry salary to P50K

The Filipino Nurses United on Friday urged the new administration under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to increase the entry salary of nurses to P50,000 a month.

Interviewed on Dobol B TV, FNU president Maristela Abenojar said their group will present a 10-point nurses’ agenda to the new administration.

“Top most po doon sa 10 na laman ng agenda ay itaas ang sahod ng nurses sa mga pampubliko at pampribado ... gawin po itong P50,000 a month. 'Yan po yung entry salary,” she said.

(Chief of the 10-point agenda is to increase the salary of nurses in public and private hospitals. The entry salary should be P50,000 a month.)

Abenojar cited the inflation and the living wage set by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in coming up with the amount.

In private hospitals, some nurses receive P8,000 to P10,000 monthly, she said.

In public hospitals, some nurses receive P35,000 monthly under Salary Grade 15. However, Abenojar said many nurses do not get this amount because around 50,000 of them are contractual workers.

Abenojar warned that the healthcare system in the country may collapse due to the alarming “exodus” of nurses for employment abroad.

According to her, around 316,000 of the 917,000 Filipino nurses chose to work outside the country to meet the needs of their family amid the “economic crisis”.

According to Abenojar, PNU has appreciated Marcos' remark on improving public health during his inauguration speech on Thursday.

On the other hand, Abenojar  lamented that 71% of healthcare workers have yet to receive their One COVID Allowance .

She said some benefits for healthcare workers in January 2022 were only released last week.

According to her, some nurses in private hospitals have yet to receive their special risk allowance (SRA) for January to June 2021. —LBG, GMA News