Some 107 nurses have resigned from the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) since last year, the hospital spokesperson said Friday.
Jonas Del Rosario, in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB, said “they are feeling it” when asked about the supposed exodus of nurses in the hospital.
The PGH is “actively recruiting” personnel, he said. Del Rosario said 59 nurses resigned last year while 48 left from January to June this year. He added that more are planning to resign.
Meanwhile, the hospital has hired only 27 new nurses.
“We are worried. We not only have COVID patients. In fact, we are having an influx of non-COVID patients.),” Del Rosario said.
He said PGH usually has 120 to 150 patients at their emergency room despite having a 70-bed capacity.
“Nararamdaman po namin ‘yung limitation na kulang ang nurses dahil po, ‘yun na nga po nababawasan, at kinakalat-kalat na po namin. We are trying our best to deploy them to where they are most needed (We are feeling the effect of the lack of nurses. We are trying our best to deploy them to where they are most needed.),” he said.
However, Del Rosario said the hospital is not feeling the slight uptick in COVID-19 cases with only 15 patients currently admitted to the PGH.
He said their nurses previously assigned to COVID-19 wards have been deployed to non-COVID wards.
“Well, ang DOH naman po ay naging katulong namin mula nung nagka COVID. In fact, nagpadala po sila ng mga DOH po na employed na nurses para i-augment ‘yung aming kakulangan (We are in coordination with the DOH since the start. In fact, the DOH sent their employed nurses to augment us.),” he said.
“But just the same I think a lot of the DOH hospitals are also feeling this exodus kaya may kanya-kanya rin pong kakulangan (we have our own deficiencies),” he added.