by nechandler

i heard from a friend in the philippines that the new graduates who passes the board exam will have to work for free in the hospitals. is this correct?

Re: nechandler

Actually it is not a requirement to render volunteer service. But unfortunate as it is and with the retrogression present, almost all hospitals are on freeze hiring. And most inexperienced nurses resort to volunteer work just to have the opportunity to practice their nursing skills. To add up, volunteering is not as easy as listing one's name on the volunteers list. You have to go through with the same application process for a staff position and beat the thousands who aspire to render free service. Sad but true. Not enough opportunities for all the nurses and their families who worked hard just to put them to nursing schools and upon finally passing the board just to end up being unemployed. Not that I have something against volunteering. It is a noble thing to do but it becomes tainted when most of those who volunteers do not have much of a choice and when hospitals are taking advantage of the situation.

Re: nechandler

The House Bill 04580 or otherwise known as "Mandatory Two-Year Domestic Service for all Filipino Registered Professional Act" filed on July 2008 have met many criticisms. If what your friend meant to say is this bill, then what he or she said is not entirely true. However, the bill is still pending at the lower house and is subject to deliberation. The bill is not compulsory. It's just what it is - a proposal.

After graduating from nursing schools, these graduates are not required to work nor hospitals are obliged to hire them. Philippine hospitals are in short supply of nurses actually, it's just that they do not have the capacity to accomodate fresh graduates and there are a lot of reasons why and one is financial. This must be the main reason why a lot of hospitals welcome new nurses as volunteers. They are on a tight budget nowadays and most of them really do exploit these newcomers.

With the approval of the Salary Standardization Law early this year, all public health workers shall have a salary grade lower than what was previously mentioned. The nurses were primarily affected by this law thereby adding to the huge departure of filipino nurses to foreign countries and in turn has an enormous impact on domestic nursing shortages and local employment. Local nurses are overworked and underpaid and do not really have a choice but to seek out alternatives for much needed income.



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