PHAPI: 40%-50% of nurses in private hospitals resigned in the last 2 years

Forty percent to 50% of nurses in private hospitals have resigned for higher pay in the last two years, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPI) said Friday.

According to JP Soriano's report on “24 Oras,” entry-level nurses in private hospitals in the Philippines receive P15,000 a month.

This is significantly lower than the monthly salaries of nurses in public hospitals ranging from P30,000 to P40,000,

PHAPI said the shortage of workers pushed some private hospitals to employ underboard nurses and nursing attendants as nurses, a move the former president of the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) opposed.

“If they are less trained they don’t have the qualifications that are really needed by a registered nurse to give the essential nursing care,” PNA ex-president Teresita Barcelo said.

Barcelo said the move was a band aid solution to the crisis and may even pose risk to patients.

“It’s a four-year training course. It’s a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. It’s the only qualification that is recognized by PRC [Professional Regulation Commission] to provide nursing services,” Barcelo said.

The private hospitals' group calmed down fears of patients being put in danger.

“May mga gawain ang mga nurses na nurse lang ang pwede,” PHAPI president Rene Jose De Grano said.

(There will be procedures that only registered nurses will be allowed to do.)

“Halimbawa magbibigay ng gamot ng IV pagbibigay through intravenous root hindi pwedeng gawin yan ng iba," De Grano said.

"Pero halimbawa kukuha lang blood pressure kukuha ng mga pulse rate ganun, sayang, kaya po yan ng ating mga nate-train na mga underboard nurses at saka nursing attendant pero still under the direct supervision at chine-check po yan ng mga registered nurse,” he added.

(An example is putting medicine through IV…but if it’s obtaining the blood pressure and pulse rate, then underboard nurses and nursing attendants are capable of doing so. They will be under the direct supervision of registered nurses.) —Sundy Locus/NB, GMA Integrated News