Nurses' groups oppose plan to grant temporary licenses

Several nurses organizations on Tuesday expressed disapproval on the proposal to issue temporary licenses to unlicensed nursing graduates to allow them to work in government hospitals.

Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) president Melvin Miranda said that Health Secretary Ted Herbosa should reconsider his plan to hire nursing graduates who scored 70-74% in the board exam even though they flunked, given that they retake and pass the board exam after a certain period of time.

“Ang isa sa agam agam natin dito is seemingly, ito kasing 70-74% bibigyan ng temporary license ay hindi pa natin naiko-consider ‘yung kanilang scope of practice. However, since hindi sila considered by our law that they would hold a professional practice, ang magiging burden pa rin dito ay accountability ng ating mga registered nurses,” he said in a Balitanghali interview.

(One of our doubts here is that it seems like those who scored 70-74% in the board exam who will be given a temporary license have a scope of practice that is not yet considered. Since they are not considered by our law to hold professional practice, the burden will fall on our registered nurses who have the accountability.)

Miranda stressed that their priority as nurses is the safety of their patients, thus the Department of Health (DOH) should give the plantilla positions to the professional nurses instead.

“Kung ang isang nurse ay definitely recognized as licensed, ‘yung level of confidence niya at saka ‘yung kanyang competence ay mahahalintulad sa isang propesyonal na pag-function niya ng kanyang propesyon. Kapag ito ay mako-consider natin na temporary license, wala pa kasing definite na pag-aaral kung saan sila ay naka-achieve na ng high level of confidence sa pag-perform ng kanilang mga tasks,” he said.

(If a nurse is recognized as licensed, his/her level of confidence and his/her competence will be compared to a professional. When we give temporary licenses, there is no definite study to prove that unlicensed nursing graduates have achieved a high level of confidence in performing their tasks.)

“I think medyo risky ang ganitong sitwasyon na kung saan dapat mas mabigyan pa ng masusing pag-aaral,” he added.

(I think this kind of situation is quite risky and should be given more thorough study.)

This was echoed by Filipino Nurses United (FNU) secretary general Jocelyn Andamo, saying that the DOH should focus on hiring registered nurses instead as there are around 120,000 of them who are not currently working in the field of nursing.

“FNU's stand is DOH should prioritize employing registered unemployed nurses or those working in non-nursing jobs. There are around 120,000 nurses categorized by DOH who are working in unspecified field of practice.These may be those unemployed and or those in non nursing jobs,” Andamo said in a message to GMA News Online.

She stressed that issues of nurses, particularly on salary and benefits, should be addressed by the government in order to keep them working in the Philippines.

“The wages should be increased to P50,000 entry salary, give them regular, permanent positions and provide adequate benefits,” she appealed.

According to Herbosa, temporary licensed nurses will have to render up to four-year return service to a government hospital after they pass their board exam before they are allowed to go abroad.

He said their starting salary in government hospitals could range from P35,000 to P40,000, which will go higher with experience.

This was the newly appointed Health secretary’s temporary solution to address the exodus of nurses who are opting for better paying jobs abroad

Herbosa said if this issue is not addressed, he sees the number of nurses working in the Philippines to be exhausted in three to five years from now.—LDF, GMA Integrated News