Luigi files bill to raise doctors' pay

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu Sixth District Rep. Gabriel Luis Quisumbing filed a bill to avert what he sees as a potential health crisis in the country because of the exodus of medical practitioners to other countries and the dwindling number of enrollees in the field of medicine.

House Bill No. 5160, Quisumbing said, would upgrade not only the salary and benefits for doctors but their working conditions and training as well.

According to Quisumbing, the decreasing enrollment of students in the field of medicine in the Philippines is an alarming trend.

“Add to that the recent phenomenon of doctors forgoing their medical education and training inorder to pursue nursing abroad and what we have is a country faced with a crisis in health service provision," said the congressman.

Quisumbing is the vice chairman of the House Committee on Civil Service and Professional Regulation. He said the crisis is now being felt in some government and private hospitals which have many unfilled medical resident positions and have resorted to hiring foreign doctors.

Citing a survey by the Department of Health (DOH), Quisumbing said 12 percent of plantilla positions for medical residents in its retained training and teaching hospitals remain vacant.

Medical residents could not be faulted, Quisumbing said, because a Medical Officer III in government hospitals is receiving a monthly salary of P19,168.00.

The neophyte lawmaker feared that with Filipinos opting out of residency training, there will no longer be Filipino medical specialists in the future.

His proposed measure to be known as the "Medical Residency Act of 2011" seeks to uplift the medical profession and protect the rights of medical residents.

It creates an attached agency to the Department of Health (DOH) to be called the Philippine Medical Accreditation Council (PMAC), which shall ensure the enforcement of policies aimed at providing better compensation and benefits and promoting humane working conditions for medical residents.

The PMAC will also ensure that the medical residency training for all specialties and sub-specialties of medical residents is not only of high-quality but also responsive to the current health service needs of the Philippine popu-lation.

"This bill seeks to make our Filipino medical residents stay in the country in order for them to continue looking after the health of Filipinos. We hope that our country will produce competent medical specialists who are willing to stay in the country and serve their fellow citizens," Quisumbing said. – (FREEMAN)