Will dangling a much higher monthly pay to our nurses make them stay here instead of leaving for abroad?
The labor group Federation of Free Workers (FFW) is urging the House of Representatives to pass a bill mandating a P63,997 starting salary for nurses in both the government and private sectors so they can be convinced to stay put in the country instead of looking for higher pay in whatever country would accept them.
The proposed pay is nearly double that of what nurses in government medical facilities and health centers are getting at present, which is P36,619.
But it’s the nurses in the private sector who are getting the short end of the stick from the government.
Private sector nurses in the National Capital Region receive a daily wage of P610 while those in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) get a ridiculously low daily wage of P431, which is way below the daily minimum wage in NCR.
In other words, if our nurses receive starvation wages whether they’re in government or in the private sector, we cannot blame them if they want to go abroad where their services and expertise are better appreciated.
If government does not consider the noble nursing profession as deserving of better pay despite their having finished four years of a nursing course and passing a difficult board exam, then the country is likely to have a shortage of nurses that will adversely affect the over-all quality of our health system.
We understand that there are already no less than 58 bills pending before the House of Representatives and 21 in the Senate all aimed at raising the salaries of nurses to between P50,000 and P64,000.
So what’s keeping our lawmakers from taking the plunge and giving our nurses what is rightfully due them—a decent living wage—to allow them and their families to keep body and soul together?
The FFW-UERM Employees Union has pointed out that there is a significant disparity between the pay of nurses in the public and private sectors, with those working in government already getting P35,000 monthly.
“These wage disparities are severe and unjust. Nurses, regardless of their employment sector, merit higher compensation given their crucial role and the intense physical and mental strain of their profession,” the union pointed out.
We completely agree with their position: “We must stem the brain drain. We need to give our nurses compelling reasons to stay in the Philippines and not seek greener pastures abroad.”