Government doc appeals to nursing grads to serve country first

Anticipating a shortage of health care providers in the country as the exodus of nurses and doctors-turned nurses continued to rise, a government doctor has appealed to fresh nursing graduates to serve the country for at least two years before pursuing the idea of working abroad.

Dr. Helen Retuta of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Center admits she does not blame nurses and even doctors who have shifted to the nursing profession who want to find better opportunities in other countries.

Retuta said VSMMC suffers a shortage of nurses wherein in one ward alone, only two nurses are attending to at least 60 patients while VSMMC has a 400-bed capacity it accommodates more than 600 patients from the Visayas and Mindanao.

Given an impending shortfall of nurses in the country due to the surge of demand for health care professionals abroad, Retuta asked nursing graduates to practice their profession first in the country for two years to hone their nursing skills.

Dr. Marilou Viray, president of the Cebu medical Society also said that every year, 3,000 doctors are taking up nursing, which is double the figure of newly licensed practicing doctors.

Viray cited three major reasons why doctors are changing profession to become nurses in order to work overseas. First, the opportunities call for it, the country's political instability and financial security.

"But there is also a good side to the brain drain of the health providers because aside from helping the country's economy through dollar remittances, these health care providers can also apply and share the technology that they have learned abroad in the country. The Philippines is a good retirement haven and even foreigners migrate here," she said. - Jasmin R. Uy