Only 65,000 of 500,000 Filipino nurses work in the Philippines - Defensor

Oct 30, 2019 03:04 PM

By Gabriela Baron

A partylist lawmaker said that a majority of Filipino nurses prefer to work abroad where salaries are much higher.

Parents and relative of the measles victim take care of their children inside the ward at San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, February 7, 2019. Secretary Duque announced the measles outbreaks in CALABARZON, NCR, Region 3, Region 6 and Region 7. (CZAR DANCEL / MANILA BULLETIN) (CZAR DANCEL / MANILA BULLETIN)

Anakalusugan Partylist Representative Mike Defensor said that there are 500,000 Filipino nurses but only 65,000 are working in the country.

"Kung titingnan mo yung data ng PRC, iba na ngayon, yung nurses pabawas nang pabawas. Now we have about 30,000 nurses in the public sector. Last year nasa 9,000 lang yung grumaduate. Previous to that, it was high, we were hitting 30,000, 50,000, now it's going down 9,000," Defensor said in an interview with CNN.

(If you look at the PRC's data, you can see that we are having less nurses compared to previous years. We have 30,000 nurses in the public sector. Last year, there were only 9,000 nurses who graduated.)

"Kawawa pa nga yung nurses, sila pa yung nagbabayad to have a residency (Our nurses here are pityful because they are the ones who pay just to have a residency). That should not be the modus operandi of the public and private hospitals," he lamented.

The lawmaker continued, saying that there was only one doctor for every 30,000 Filipinos.

"For every one doctor, 30,000 Filipinos are being serviced. It should be one to 1,000," Defensor added.

He said that because of the dwindling number of nurses in the Philippines, the country has to make do with relying on the services of Barangay Health Workers (BHW).

"Sa nurses natin kulang na kulang tayo, (We have a very few nurses) in fact, because you now don't have enough nurses, you now have Barangay Health Workers,"

A BHW is a health care provider volunteer who undergoes basic training program and render primary care services in the community.

"These are the things that we really have to empower. Our nurses to serve nutrition program, vaccination program, other primary health care that we have to implement kasi (because) important talaga (really) the preventive program so that we avoid depleting our PhilHealth Fund or sources," Defensor ended.