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Fill up 4,000 gov't hospital plantilla posts with contractual nurses, Castro tells DOH

Philippines | National

Fill up 4,000 gov't hospital plantilla posts with contractual nurses, Castro tells DOH

By Ellson Quismorio

At A Glance

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro is prodding the Department of Health (DOH) to fill the 4,000 vacant plantilla positions for nurses in government-run hospitals with the over 13,000 contractual nurses in the country.

(MANILA BULLETIN)

ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro is prodding the Department of Health (DOH) to fill the 4,000 vacant plantilla positions for nurses in government-run hospitals with the over 13,000 contractual nurses in the country.

DOH Secretary Ted Herbosa mentioned the 4,000 empty plantilla positions during the department's 2024 budget deliberation Wednesday, Sept. 6, before the House Committee on Appropriations.

Castro, a deputy minority leader, couldn't reconcile why there was such a big number of unfilled plantilla positions for nurses in public hospitals when there was an even bigger number of contractual nurses--a total of 13,975.

Herbosa--one of the newer members of the Marcos Cabinet--claimed that the DOH needs authorization from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to fill up the plantilla positions, particularly those that were vacated by nurses.

The health chief also said that there's a sheer lack of nurse applicants for these plantilla positions.

Castro found this "hard to believe" and subsequently told Herbosa to submit a list of the government hospitals with these vacancies but weren't getting any applicants.

She further insisted that DOH tap the contractual nurses in order to immediately cover the vacancies.

According to Herbosa, nurses face tougher workload in government hospitals, where they are expected to care for up to 20 patients per shift. He said this explains the dearth of applicants.

Related Tags

government nurses pay Ted Herbosa Department of Health Davao

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