Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri stressed that salaries should be increased to address the shortage of nurses in the country.
This was after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered several government agencies to carry out a solution to stop the shortage of nurses due to migration.
"Small private hospitals here pay nurses as low as P15,000 to P20,000 a month. And they are likely overworked, looking after more than their fair share of patients as more and more of their colleagues leave for better pastures abroad," he said.
He underlined the difference in nurses' compensation abroad with around P150,000 to P200,000 a month saying salaries and benefits in the Philippines "offer no competition."
“If we want nurses to stay in the country, we need to increase their salaries. That’s really the long and short of the diaspora problem that we’re having," he added.
Zubiri believes that nurses would still prefer working in the country living with their families while helping Filipino people. However, salaries have a big factor in deciding to stay or work overseas.
"They need to make a decent living as well, and they need to be paid in wages and benefits that are commensurate to the work that they render. If they don’t get this, then they have no other choice but to leave," Zubiri stressed.
Meanwhile, according to the Department of Health (DOH), 316,405 licensed Filipino nurses, or 51%, had migrated to other countries.
