DOH exec: Private hospitals should raise nurses’ salary

CEBU, Philippines — The top official of the Department of Health in Central Visayas said that private hospitals should pay their nurses at par with the salaries that government nurses are getting.

DOH-7 Regional Director Jaime Bernadas said that private hospital nurses will simply transfer to government hospitals, if their pay is not even close to what government nurses are getting.

“Dagko na ta ron og sweldo sa atong mga government nurses. Karon kay naa nay nag sweldo og more than P30,000 per month, while sa atong mga private hospitals naa pa man gani nag-sweldo og P8,000 per month,” Bernadas said.

He added Filipino nurses, mostly in the Middle East, are now coming back to the country because of higher pay in government hospitals.

“Ang mga Filipino nurses nga naa sa Middle East nagtrabaho kay daghan na ang nanguli dinhi kay mao-mao na lang ilang sweldo sa atong mga government hospitals. Unya duol pa gyud sila sa ilang pamilya,” he said.

Bernadas added that Cebu has no healthcare crisis, especially among private hospitals as there are still nurses serving the patients.

“So, aron di na mamalhin ilang mga nurses sa government hospitals, angayan nga pasakaan gyud na nila ang sweldo sa ilang mga nurses,” he said.

He, however, said there are still Filipino nurses who would opt to work in some European countries because the salaries are higher, compared to what the government nurses’ get.

Meanwhile, Anakalusugan Partylist Representative Michael Defensor calls on the Department of Labor and Employment to set a monthly minimum pay of P32,053 or higher for nurse practitioners in the private sector.

Defensor said that under the new Salary Standardization Law, or Republic Act 11466, the entry-level pay of government nurses was bumped up to P32,053 effective Jan. 1, 2020.

He said that the same starting pay will go up to P33,575 on Jan. 1, 2021; P35,097 on Jan. 1, 2022; and P36,619 on Jan. 1, 2023.

“The DOLE – through the regional tripartite wages and productivity boards – is fully empowered to fix the minimum pay of all workers along industry lines or levels, including nurses in private hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centers and similar settings,” Defensor said, in a statement.

A law was recently signed increasing the salaries of some 1.4 million civilian government personnel, including nurses employed by the Department of Health, over the next four years.

“We have to encourage new nursing graduates to practice their profession if we want all our hospitals – both public and private – to have a stable supply of nursing staff in the years ahead. And assuring them greater pay will help,” said Defensor, House health committee vice chairperson.

Defensor added that a considerable number of new nursing graduates who did not leave the country are opting out of their profession, and are instead pursuing more gainful careers elsewhere, such as in real estate and insurance sales. (FREEMAN)