Last January 8, 2009, I wrote an article entitled, Let us Look at the Plight of Filipino Nurses.
You see, during my pregnancy until childbirth, which went from mid-2008 to early 2009, I was hospitalized three times. And I had gone back and forth to the hospital for tests and consultations. During these times, I have met and talked to different nurses on duty and I learned that less than half of the nurses that took care of me were actually regular employees. Most of the nurses on duty were registered nurses who are needing more training hours if ever they want to go abroad. And I learned that in the two hospitals where I was admitted, the nurses actually “pay” the hospital for their training. Some of them were not from Bacolod so that means they have to pay their board and lodging while serving in the hospitals.
I was really outraged because it is exploitation! One Christmas evening while I was in the hospital, the three nurses on duty in the station where I was were all trainees! Imagine that! And not only are they unpaid (no salary, allowance or benefits), the hospital made them pay. So that means double the profit for the hospital–they did not have to pay for the salaries of the nurses on holiday duty while at the same time, they earned from the “training fees” of these nurses. But nurses put up with this abuse because they did not have a choice.
Anyway, I read the other day that Congress has approved the bill banning hospitals from making nurses pay for their training. It is almost 2 years since I wrote my first article and finally, the government has looked at the plight of jobless Filipino nurses.
Below is the entire news article written Paolo Romero by in Yahoo News.
The House of Representatives has approved on second reading a bill prohibiting public and private hospitals from requiring cash payment from registered nurses who want to gain work experience.
House Bill 5445 seeks to prevent the exploitation of registered nurses who are serving as nurse volunteers in public or private hospitals.
The House committee on health chaired by Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Marañon III had endorsed the bill for plenary. It substituted House Bill 767 authored by Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis.
“With the decline of demand for nurses in the United States and the United Kingdom, more nursing graduates end up unemployed while many of them shifted to work at call centers, retail stores and other non-professional positions. Those who are lucky enough to obtain employment abroad usually end up as caregivers, dental assistants and nursing aides,” San Luis said.
He said the lack of employment opportunities for nurses in the country makes them vulnerable to the unscrupulous practices of some hospitals that demand cash payment in exchange for the necessary work experience required for jobs abroad.
“This is plain and simple exploitation. No matter how the hospital administrators call the pernicious practice, whether it is training, skills building, volunteer work or whatever, it is unfair to the nurses and their parents who toiled hard and spent money just so their children will become nurses,” he said.
The bill penalizes violators with one year imprisonment and a fine of P500,000.
The measure mandates the Department of Health (DOH) and the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), Board of Nursing to assess all the training programs for registered nurses that are being implemented in hospitals.
The bill provides that only those programs accredited by the DOH and the PRC Board of Nursing shall be implemented and allowed to charge corresponding fees.
The bill further provides that any nurse volunteer who was required to pay the hospital shall be entitled to a refund of the full amount paid to the hospital plus interest of six percent per annum until said amount is fully paid.
In addition, a salary equivalent to Salary Grade 11 shall be paid by the hospital to the nurse-trainee for services rendered.
It is not clear however if the law covers the fees paid in the past several years that hospitals had asked for money in exchange for training.
It is really sad that Filipino nurses had to undergo such treatment from hospitals. But at least, even if it is already late, now the government has acted upon it.
Shall I now be thankful? I guess so. But I cannot speak for the thousands of nurses who had to undergo such. Their only consolation is that justice has been served for their cause.
