The Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAPI) said Friday that some of its members are in trouble due to the number of nurses leaving to work abroad or in public facilities.
“’Yan po ang isang napakalaking problema ng private hospitals, kasi talagang, tuloy-tuloy po ang pag-alis ng ating mga nurses, nagpupunta po sila sa abroad, lumilipat sa government facilities,” said PHAPI president Dr. Jose Rene de Grano.
(That is a huge problem for private hospitals because our nurses constantly leave, go abroad, and move to government facilities.)
He said the problem would worsen if COVID-19 cases increased in the country.
“Sana po ay maintindihan po ng ating Department of Labor na siguro tama lang po na limitahan muna nila ‘yung paglabas ng ating mga nurses,” said De Grano.
(I hope our Department of Labor understands that maybe it is suitable for them to limit the release of our nurses for now.)
In February, the government raised the deployment cap for Filipino healthcare workers who want to emigrate to 7,000.
But Department of Migrant Workers Secretary Abdullah Mama-o said in April that he wanted to study this number.
Private hospitals worry about exodus of nurses
Some private hospitals are trying to match the wages provided by the government, De Grano said.
He said, “Yun pong binibigay ng government na around P33,000 to P33,000 plus, ‘yun po’y pinapantayan na, sinisikap pantayan ng ating mga pribadong ospital.”
(What the government gives around P33,000 to P33,000 plus, that is equalized, our private hospitals are trying to compensate.)
“But siyempre yun pong mga maliliit pong pribadong hospital… hindi naman na po kakayanin yon dahil kami po’y, doon din kami nakasalalay ‘yung aming pagbibigay ng ganoon sa mga pasyente po,” he added.
(But of course, those are small private hospitals… we can’t do that anymore because we are, we also depend on that to provide that to our patients.)
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) will propose to raise the deployment cap for healthcare workers to 7,500 due to the relaxation of the COVID-19 protocols in other countries and the sufficient number of healthcare workers in the country.
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