Gov’t to hire 13,000 nurses this year

MANILA, Philippines — The government is set to hire more than 13,000 nurses this year once the P3.7-trillion national budget is enacted into law, Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said yesterday.

Ejercito, chairman of the Senate committee on health, said the 2019 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) provides funds to beef up the nursing workforce in government hospitals.

He said some P7 billion is provided in the GAB for salaries and other financial benefits for the additional 13,578 nurses to be deployed under the Human Resources for Health (HRH) program of the Department of Health (DOH).

Currently, there are 3,627 nurses employed by the government.

“The nurses are for deployment in different DOH-retained hospitals, local government unit hospitals, rural health units and barangay health stations,” Ejercito said. 

Ejercito, principal sponsor of the Universal Health Care law, pushed for the allocation of the funding for HRH during Senate deliberations of the budget bill. 

“It’s like hitting two birds with one stone. First, the additional nurses will improve medical services in government-run hospitals and second, 13,578 jobless nurses will be given gainful employment,” he said. 

The senator, as sponsor of the DOH budget, also restored the P15-billion allocation for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program cut by the Department of Budget and Management.