The country’s nurses are asking newly installed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to raise their starting salary to P50,000 a month.
Maristela Abenojar, president of the Filipino Nurses United (FNU) said they will present a 10-point nurses’ agenda to the new administration.
“Top most po doon sa 10 na laman ng agenda ay itaas ang sahod ng nurses sa mga pampubliko at pampribado … gawin po itong P50,000 a month. ‘Yan po yung entry salary,” Abenojar said.
She cited inflation and the living wage set by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) in coming up with the proposed amount.
In private hospitals, some nurses receive P8,000 to P10,000 monthly, while those working in public hospitals get P35,000 monthly under Salary Grade 15.
However, Abenojar said many nurses do not get this amount because around 50,000 of them are contractual workers.
Abenojar warned that the healthcare system in the country might collapse due to the alarming “exodus” of nurses for employment abroad.
According to her, around 316,000 of the 917,000 Filipino nurses chose to work overseas to meet the needs of their family amid the “economic crisis”.
According to Abenojar, PNU has appreciated Marcos’ remark on improving public health during his inauguration speech on Thursday.
Abenojar also lamented that 71 percent of healthcare workers in the country have yet to receive their One COVID Allowance.
She said some benefits for healthcare workers for January 2022 were only released last week.
Abenojar said some nurses in private hospitals have yet to receive their special risk allowance (SRA) for January to June 2021.