MAYNILA — Tuloy ang paghahanap ng solusyon ng Department of Health (DOH) para tugunan ang brain drain ng health workers at mapunuan ang mga bakanteng posisyon sa government hospitals.

Ayon kay Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa, nakausap niya ang mga opisyal ng PRC na nagpahayag anya ng suporta sa paghanap niya ng mga solusyon.

Sang-ayon si Herbosa na maaaring kailanganin pang amyendahan ang batas para mabigyan ng temporary license ang mga board eligible na o hindi pumasa sa nursing board exams para makapag trabaho sa mga ospital ng gobyerno. Isasangguni anya niya sa mga abogado para tumulong sa pagbuo ng panukalang batas para rito.

Kabilang sa mga solusyon ngayon ang pagbubukas pa ng dagdag na Nursing Assistant position sa mga government hospitals na may Salary Grade 9 na bukas para sa mga graduate ng 4-year nursing course at naghihintay pang pumasa sa exams. Ayon kay Herbosa, aprubado na ang ito ng DOH execom.

Nais din niyang i-mentor ang mga hindi pa pumapasa sa nursing board exams para mas dumami rin ang nursing pool ng bansa.

Maaari rin anya magkaroon ng isang training program at magkaroon ng mga nurse trainee hanggang makuha nila ang kanilang certification at magiging under supervision ng licensed nurse.

Makikipagpulong pa siyang muli sa PRC at kay DOLE Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma para talakayin ang mga solusyon na tutugon sa nursing shortage sa public hospitals.

“So There’s now an opening now for unlicensed. For unlicensed nurses, we’re offering already a salary grade 9, it’s gonna be called nursing assistants. That’s been approved by the execom (JUMPCUT) because they’ve been studying this problem on how to augment health human resource. Ang licensed nurse starts at salary grade 15, yun ang sinasabi ko 35 almost 50 thousand a month ang sweldo. So it’s a lower salary and that’s already a solution but I’m trying to find a way na makapasa sila. I’m mentoring nurses so that I can make them work in government, become better in nursing and eventually pass the board exam. Kasi either way mag ta trabaho sila outside the health care system," ani Herbosa.

Samantala, tugon niya sa pahayag ng Filipino Nurses United na kumuha ng unemployed registered nurses sa halip na unlicensed graduate, kailangan nilang mag-apply.

Pinalalagay na rin ni Herbosa sa online government job hiring site ng pamahalaan ang mga nursing vacancies sa pamahalaan na maaaring applyan.

Tungkol sa contractualization, sabi ni Herbosa, may mga ospital na ng filled up na ang nursing items pero maraming pasyente kaya napipilitang mag-hire ng job order.

“It’s the other problem. There are hospitals that have full items, yung filled up talaga ang nursing and they have many patients so what they do to increase the number of nurses they need is they do a job order. A job order is same rate as the salary plus 20 percent. Why? Because wala yung benefits kasi job order ka lang. actually mas malaki ang salary nun pero ikaw magbayad ng PhilHealth mo, ikaw magbayad ng SSS mo or GSIS. So when they say job order, yun ang problema, nagbibigay ng job order kung walang item. Siguro ang di tama kung may item pero job order pa rin ang binigay… that’s already the purview of the hospital director that hires these nurses. So malamang yung nagbibigay ng job order, yan yung puno na ang items nila," sabi ni Herbosa.

Sa benefits at salaries naman, nailabas na anya ng pamahalaan para bayaran ang mga nurses na nagtrabaho sa panahon ng COVID ay higit P29.5 billion na at nai-release na.

“Almost 30 billion and nairelease na and this has been disbursed. Kulang ito. And that's why there are health care workers who haven’t received then so we have arrears of 2021 and 2022 and we have pending of about P16-billion in our budget now… it is in the 2023 budget and it’s going to be downloaded to the centers for health development or the regional offices for payment. For the next year, we also put in and the DBM in our budget something like 16.7 billion also for continued payment. So the government is trying to pay these off siyempre it takes a process and time. So i hope the people who haven’t been paid understand," sabi niya.

Sa panawagang P33,000 na sahod sa mga entry level health workers: “I talked to some of the private hospital owners. The big owners of big hospitals, they have plenty of money and they earn a lot of money are already paying anywhere between 25 to 30 thousand a month which is approaching the 35 (thousand) salary grade of government so at least they are competing. Yung mga smaller hospitals nandoon pa rin sa 20 parang ganoon, yung iba pa nga below that’s another thing I’ll tackle… sabi nila through legislation. The people who are pushing for higher pay na ilegislate nyo na lang yan na bawal magsweldo nang mababa sa nurse kasi they’re thinking yun ang cause na umaalis ang nurses. My thinking is umaalis ang nurses kasi there is a need outside, mayroon din silang vacant positions abroad.”

Sa isyu naman na baka pabigat ang unlicensed sa mga registered nurses lalo na sa mga understaffed government hospitals, ani Herbosa, “On the contrary, if you are a government nurse and you have so much patience, ang laki ng May assistant ka. Ang laking tulong nun, gagaan ang trabaho mo.”