President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. expressed support on Thursday, August 11, for the proposed implementation of a “ladderized” program for nurses to address brain drain and to strengthen the country’s health sector.
“I like the ladderized idea for the nurses because that’s really becoming a problem – the brain drain that we are suffering,” Marcos said in his meeting with members of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) in Malacañang.
“They are so good everybody wants them, and they are willing to pay for it, and we are not, or we’re not able. So we have to come up with some strategies for that,” he added.
Department of Health (DOH) Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the ladderized program is offered by the University of the Philippines (UP)-Manila and by select local government units.
The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, likewise, offers a six-month nursing aide course, the graduates of which can be deployed in hospitals after a few months.
“What the hospitals do is they train them further, another 30 days to do IG, to do phlebotomy, or ‘yung nasal – NGT. And it improves the ratio of beds that nurses [are] able to do in hospitals. Quick win like that is easy to do if you can encourage more nursing aides,” Paolo Maximo Borromeo, PSAC Healthcare lead, said.
Better compensation, ‘quick wins’
The President also discussed with PSAC the challenges confronting the Philippine health sector, particularly the exodus of nurses and other health professionals.
He suggested the provision of scholarships to keep Filipino medical professionals from leaving the country, noting that the government cannot hold back individuals seeking better employment abroad.
The DOH said there are 617,000 licensed nurses in the country, with 28% or 172,000 working in both public and private health facilities, while 51% or 316,000 have already migrated and 21% are working in other areas other than healthcare.
The PSAC proposed that the government make a policy mandating equal pay for nurses working in both the public and private sectors as it called for a review of the salaries and benefits of nurses.
The administration’s “quick wins” within its first 100 days were also discussed, including the vaccine procurement plan for new COVID-19 variants and monkeypox, feasibility study on local vaccine manufacturing, and a third-party review of PhilHealth.
They also tackled piloting telehealth in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas, the revisiting of the regulatory requirements for private sector participation in the coverage of Universal Health, the complete digitalization of the Food and Drug Administration, and general public awareness on generic medicines.
-ag