Third district Rep. Kristine Alexie Tutor appealed to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to lift the moratorium on new nursing programs in the Philippines, a report says on Wednesday, June 23, 2021.
According to the report, Tutor said is not with the number of nurses, rather the problem is with low salaries and benefits. Worse, the solon added, there are times that the release of nurses’ salaries, at times, are delayed.
The third district solon said that due to the “oversupply” some nursing graduates end up working in business process outsourcing (BPO), as this industry has become a “second option” for nursing graduates and nursing board passers as they are unable to find suitable employment.
“There is a wide disparity between labor working conditions in government hospitals compared to private facilities,” Tutor said.
The neophyte lawmaker lamented local hospitals have become training grounds for nurses looking to work abroad.
“The pandemic experiences of the emergency hiring of nurses, [medical technologists], contact tracers, and [barangay health emergency response teams (BHERTs)] are dismaying proof of how poorly the government treats health professionals,” she added.
The solon suggested that CHED may start lifting the moratorium on opening new nursing programs in Levels 4 and Level 5 state tertiary educational institutions, private universities and colleges with deregulated and autonomous status, and centers of excellence in nursing education.
Tutor quipped that offering of new programs can start 1 to 2 years from now to give time to ascertain labor supply needs in the country and around the world.
The CHED issued in 2010, Memorandum No. 32 that temporarily banned the opening of all undergraduate and graduate programs in business administration, nursing, teacher education, hotel and restaurant management, and information technology education effective school year 2011-2012.