House leaders seek probe of nursing OJT

MANILA, Philippines—House leaders on Saturday called for an investigation into the pernicious practice of levying fees on registered nurses seeking on-the-job training with hospitals and medical institutions.

“Why should nurses be treated this way? This is an immoral and unacceptable practice, if indeed this is true,” said House Assistant Majority Leader Karlo Alexei Nograles.

Nograles said that while Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has stated that the practice does not violate any labor laws, it is against declared public policy, public morals and the Civil Code.

He noted that on-the-job trainees (OJTs) in other fields or professions do not pay the company or employers for the experience and are even given food and financial assistance.

Hospitals and medical institutions should be giving these nurses stipends for rendering service and not the other way around, he said.

He said he supported the initiative of Health Secretary Enrique Ona to immediately investigate this practice.

The cardinal principle in law is that no person can take undue advantage of another, Nograles said.

He said the Civil Code, whose Articles 21, 24 and 28 provide for protection against oppressive or unfair practices, should be used to run after these hospitals and medical institutions.

“It is the obligation of the state to correct this practice of hospitals and other medical institutions which is in effect, taking advantage of our nurses who are in desperate need of work experience,” Nograles said.

Iloilo Rep. Jerry Treñas, chair of the committee on good government and public accountability, said Congress should step in and investigate so it can pass a law that would prohibit the practice of charging such fees.

Treñas believes the medical institutions involved in this practice were those that have their own medical schools.

“We now have so many hospitals which also run their own nursing and medical schools so they are really raking in a lot of money because they have a labor force which even pays just to be able to work for them. We have to put a stop to this kind of practice,” he said.

Treñas also called on the Commission on Higher Education to look into the nursing schools and to stop issuing permits to those that have consistently shown a poor passing record in the nursing board exams.

“We now have too many nurses who end up in call centers. I think that the CHEd should now regulate the number of our nursing students,” he said. –Cynthia Balana, Philippine Daily Inquirer