[REPORT] SENATE PROBES ON PLIGHT OF NURSES; PROPOSES SOLUTION TO END EXPLOITATION Begun by the harrowing call of Nurses for Change Movement for the Government to stop exploitation of nurses, the Senate probed on what it coined as the “growing crisis” in the nursing profession, October 21. Senator Antonio “Sonny” Trillanes IV, who led the Committee on Civil Service and Government Reorganization, recognized the demands for Filipino nurses both in the global and local health industry. “The horizon for Filipino Nurses is so bright. I will try to convince the President to support my resolution. Huwag kayong bibitaw. Dahil sa INGAY niyo, narinig ang hinaing niyo eh. The louder your voice becomes, the more na maririnig tayo. Magsama-sama tayo, Trillanes said (Hold on. Because of the your uproar, we heard your plight. The louder your voice becomes, the more we will be heard.) Sen. Trillanes was made aware of the pressing issues such as false-volunteerism, pseudo-trainings and the non-implementation of the statutory wage for nurses when the Justice for Nurses Coalition exposed these practices before the committee. For its part, Justice for Nurses Coalition strengthen its stand and proposed a bill to penalize perpetrators of false-volunteerism, create mechanisms to regulate trainings, and ensure standard salary for nurses both in the government and private sectors. Chair of the Board of Nursing (BON) Dr. Carmencita Abaquin, member of the BON Dr. Carmelita Divinagracia and a representative from the Philippine Nurses Association admitted the nursing crisis and expressed their support for a new bill addressing the abovementioned issues. ------------------------------------------------------------ Wages for nurses’ will take a hike in 2015 Senator Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV interpellated the Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa why the statutory salary grade for nurses has not been implemented despite of the passage of the Philippine Nursing Act in 2002. To solve this issue, Sen. Trillanes resolved to nationalize the health budget and increase the entry level salary of nurses to Php 30,000.00. He said that this matter shall be taken up during the ongoing deliberations for Salary Standardization Law 4. Meanwhile, Sen. Aquino assured the nurses that he will fight for the allocation for the lawful wages of nurses in the ongoing for 2015 budget deliberations. Senator Cynthia Villar, who did not stay long for the hearing, also ensured Nurses For Change Movement that she will support the move of Sen. Trillanes and Sen. Aquino to expedite the passage of such measures. Usec. Herbosa pointed out that DOH will have implemented the salary grade had the Department of Budget Management (DBM) had allocated such budget. A representative of the DBM said that the implementation of salary grade 15 for nurses, as mandated by law, will disturb the hierarchical differences among professionals. -------------------------------------------------------- Go to the grassroots Expressing that the working conditions in local and private hospitals are more deplorable, Sen. Trillanes admonished Usec. Herbosa to “go out from your small world” and check the situation of health workers in these health institutions. Sen. Trillanes noted the seeming gap between what Usec. Herbosa knows and the real situation of health workers in the non-DOH health facilities. Usec. Herbosa admitted that he is not aware of the salary and status in non-DOH hospitals. He also claimed that there is no known standard for nurse-to-patient ratio in hospitals. The implementing rules of DOH Administrative Order No. 147 series of 2004 set the nurse-to-patient ratio to 1:12 in areas non-critical nursing care; 1:3 for critical nursing care. When asked about its power to regulate hospitals which exploit nurses, Usec. Herbosa said that it has the power to suspend or revoke the hospital’s permit to operate, but reiterates, that nurses should first file administrative COMPLAINTS. On contractualization A representative from the DBM admitted that there were items for contractual nurses. Allegedly, these contractual nurses received the same benefits as regular nurses received. Her statements were met by an uproar of contradiction from the nurses in conference room as the DBM representative seemingly did not know the difference in terms of the benefits that a regular and a contractual employee receives. The Senate probe yielded a resolution from the senators to end the reign of job order nursing and contractualization of nurses. At the start of the hearing, Ang Nars Partylist Respresentative Leah Paquiz read a position paper enumerating the partylist advocacies and admitted that much is still left to be done. Thereafter, she left.# #JusticeForNursesCoalition #N4C
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 06:25:42 +0000
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