Hard to prevent exodus

Don’t forget us: Health workers petitioning the government to release their risk allowance at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in Manila as seen in this filepic. — AFP

HE opted to become a nurse at the height of the Philippines’ nursing boom in 2008 when there were not enough jobs in the health system for the many thousands of newly-qualified nurses.

At first, Ronald Ignacio struggled to find a job and ended working at a farm for two years.

He eventually landed a job as a nurse in a private hospital in Manila in 2010.

“But the situation is very different now,” said Ignacio.

Just as Filipino nurses grapple with meagre pay, poor working conditions and low nurse-to-patient ratios, rich countries have become more aggressive in tempting them abroad.

Hospitals and health facilities in the country are now struggling to keep their best nurses and fill new positions.

Several wards are closed in the hospital where Ignacio now works because of a shortage of nurses. Even emergency patients have to wait days for a bed.

“Expert nurses – the lifeblood of hospitals – have accepted job offers abroad because their salaries here are no longer commensurate with their work,” Ignacio, an emergency care nurse, said.

Without senior nurses to guide them, he said, new hires often quit after a few months due to the excessive workload and low pay, or because of highly appealing job packages abroad.

The World Health Organisation recommends a ratio of 27 nurses per 10,000 population. In the Philippines, there are only 16 nurses per 10,000.

It will need an additional 127,000 nurses to meet the WHO target, the Health Ministry said.

Entry-level nurses in private hospitals take home between 15,000 and 25,000 pesos (RM1,200 and RM2,000) a month, about the same as new teachers.

But it is a far cry from nurses’ average monthly salary of US$3,000 (RM13,400) in the US and £2,000 (RM11,200) in the UK.

“You studied for four years to become a nurse and worked hard to obtain your licence only to get paid a salary that could no longer be called a living wage. Where’s justice in that?” Ignacio asked.

Since the 1950s, money sent home by nurses abroad has been a big earner for the Philippines’ economy.

At the end of 2021, around a third of the more than 900,000 registered nurses in the Philippines were working abroad, according to the advocacy group Filipino Nurses United.

Remittances from nurses bring in around US$8bil (RM35,800) to the economy every year, about 25% of all remittances, which together account for some 9% of gross domestic product.

At the end of 2022, some 170,000 nurses were working in private and public health facilities in the country, while more than 290,000 licensed nurses had left for other careers, the Health Ministry said.

As such, Ignacio is urging the Philippine government to show the world that nursing is still a dignified profession by improving conditions.

He believes nurses like him should never have to leave the country to feed their families. — Reuters