DOH "Stop asking for payment of volunteer nurses"

[Hoss]

From Sun Star Network:

Sunday, January 16, 2011

MANILA -- The Department of Health (DOH) called on both public and private hospitals to stop the alleged practice of asking payments from registered nurses who volunteered to work for hospitals.

In an interview, DOH Secretary Enrique Ona admitted that there is a surplus in the supply nurses in the country, but this should not prompt hospitals to take advantage of the situation.

"The hospitals should not take advantage of this surplus of nurses," reiterated Ona.

This after reports came that there are hospitals who hired nurses as OJTs without pays, some nurses even go to the extent of being the ones paying for their job.

Ona also encouraged concerned individuals and sectors to submit a formal complaint against the hospital so they could take action in preventing it.

"I've been hearing a few of these complaints. No office have had received specifics. Name the hospitals para matingnan namin," he said. (AMN/Sunnex)

[Daly City RN]

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It saddens me that fellow Filipino nurses working in the Philippines are treated this way. The responsible government officials should see to it that this practice is stopped immediately. Hospital administrators, both private and public, who let this practice happen under their watch should be investigated.

To those Filipinos who are still contemplating of enrolling in nursing schools in the Philippines should think twice before they do so. Think about it young ladies and gentlemen, there are currently hundreds of thousands of unemployed nurses in the Philippines. The Philippines is probably the ONLY country in the world that has this many unemployed nurses living within its territory. Many nurses in the Philippines will not be able to work as paid nurses, ever.

Filipino nurses are realizing that their dream of landing a lucrative job abroad may not materialize. Rich European countries have closed their doors to most foreign nurses due to the global recession, preferring to hire the nurses from within the European Union. Australia and New Zealand have relatively small number of people and cannot hire all of the Filipino nurses who want to work "Down Under." Although the Middle Eastern countries continue to hire Filipino nurses, they have begun to be choosy whom they want to hire.

Here in the United States we have the same problems Europe has. So many Americans have lost their jobs during the past 2-3 years due to the global recession, therefore many Americans no longer have the private health insurance that they used to enjoy. No health insurance means people defer going to the hospital until they have to. This has resulted in fewer demands for hospital beds, and this has resulted in less demand for nurses and other ancillary services.

If you are a Filipino nurse who graduated years ago and is currently not employed as a nurse, your chances of landing that lucrative job abroad is quite small. Remember, there are hundreds of thousands of your collegues who want that same job you want to have.

Sad, really.

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