Bohol Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor is calling for swift action on the nursing personnel shortage amid the exodus of Filipino nurses for overseas work.
She outlined several key solutions to tackle the challenges and bridge the gap between the public and private sectors.
Tutor acknowledged that such solutions are possible but cited the complexity of the situation.
She highlighted the “disparity between the wages and compensation of nurses in public and private hospitals with private nurses facing significantly lower rates due to regional wage differences.”
She proposed the “setting of minimum wage rates specifically for nurses in the private sector, ensuring uniformity across all regions” of a “fair minimum wage range of P700 to P1,000 net per day for registered nurses in private hospitals, gradually implemented over several years to allow for adjustment.”
She said there is a need to resolve backlogs and delays in PhilHealth remittances to private hospitals that have contributed to their financial struggles.
She recommended hiring contractual and job order nursing assistants and nursing aides to reduce the workload of registered nurses and the amendment of the Nursing Law to grant the Professional Regulation Commission the authority to “issue licenses to additional types of nurses, such as nurse practitioners, nurse assistants, and nurse aides.”
The lawmaker also batted for a sixth Salary Standardization Law that would raise wages for nurses and other government workers at the national and local levels, running from 2025 to 2029 as well as for the amendment of the Labor Code “to simplify or reduce the regional wage tiers, establishing three to four common tiers for regional groupings.”