New health chief Herbosa vows to pay nurses 'correctly' to make them stay
MANILA, Philippines — The new secretary of the Department of Health promised Thursday to give healthcare workers more competitive salaries to encourage them to stay in the Philippines.
Many Filipino healthcare workers—especially nurses—seek employment abroad as they are often overworked but underpaid.
To encourage them to serve the country, Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa said the government “needs to pay them correctly.”
“Our nurses are world class. They’re being asked by presidents of other countries. They should be serving the Filipino people. We should be the ones paying them the salaries those guys are paying them,” Herbosa said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel.
But Herbosa stressed that he cannot prevent health workers from leaving the country.
“If a nurse wants to go abroad to get a salary that I cannot give, I should not stop that person… So I will search for the solution on what will make them stay,” he said.
Over 100,000 nurses in the private sector earn P537 per day in Metro Manila and much lower in areas outside the capital region, according to the Filipino Nurses United. Nurses in the government sector, although they have relatively higher pay, suffer from work and patient overload.
To address the lack of health workers in the country, Herbosa said he is looking at the possibility of allowing nursing graduates who have yet to pass the licensure exam to work in the government.
“In the government, you can’t work without a license. But I’m willing to take them if they have a diploma,” Herbosa said, noting there are around 4,500 vacancies for nurses in the department.
“If you have a diploma from an accredited school, I’ll give you a period of time to pass it… Then you make them work for five years. I’m giving them five years to pass the board,” he added.
COVID-19 benefits
Herbosa also vowed to address the health workers’ delayed COVID-19 benefits.
“I will make sure we continue to have the funding for that so these benefits will be given to them,” he said.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. appointed Herbosa nearly a year after he assumed office.
Herbosa's comments and statements on the pandemic and other national concerns previously drew backlash.
These incidents were when Herbosa shared “fake news” about COVID-19 infections, poked fun at a person who died while lining up at a community pantry and shared a rape joke on Facebook.
In August 2021, Herbosa shared a tweet thanking health workers, but wrote on his caption: “except those who protested.”
In a tweet, he apologized for earlier statements and called for the public's support.
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