Nurses, legislators want end to volunteer training program

THREE of the largest organizations of nurses in the Philippines joined legislators in eyeing to stop the volunteer nursing training program allegedly exploited by numerous private and government medical institutions.

During a roundtable conference at the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the Nars ng Bayan, Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) and Ang Nars issued an appeal to the leadership of the Lower Congress to put as priority the House Bill 767, which seeks to stop both private and government hospitals and other medical institutions from recruiting nurses to volunteer in medical and nursing training programs without payment of salaries and allowances under the prevailing rates of their profession.

It is Rep. Edgar San Luis who refiled the House Bill 767 and lamented the near passage of the measure during the Fourteenth Congress. San Luis, along with Representatives Emmi de Jesus and Luz Ilagan of Gabriela sponsored the roundtable discussion on the exploitative nursing volunteerism practices.

According to San Luis, the government—through the Departments of Health and of Labor and Employment—have the moral obligation to investigate on the complaints of majority of over 280,000 nurses in the country, allegedly being forced to do regular nursing jobs in hospitals without receiving financial compensations.

The two Gabriela party-list lawmakers are among the authors of House Resolution 861, which urges President Benigno Aquino 3rd to bar the practice of collecting training fees by public and private hospitals from professional and registered nurses.

Nars ng Bayan President Eleanor Nolasco said Health Secretary Enrique Ona should listen to the appeal for the stoppage of the said practice and provide employment opportunities for nurses with corresponding professional development and advancement programs.

She cited that while the current administration followed the move of then-President Gloria Arroyo on providing jobs for nurses through the rural service program, the salaries offered those recruited, pegged at P8,000 to P10,000, cannot be considered “just compensation” for the work they are required to do.

“Our nurses want to work and earn a living but they become forced volunteers. The certificates of training given them are not accepted for employment overseas,” president of Ang Nars Dr. Leah Primitiva Samaco, for her part, said.

In a statement read by PNA President Teresita Irigo-Barcelo, the group said the Labor department should also look into the plight of nurses who are asked to pay for volunteer work in hospitals without salaries and other benefits and without “employee-employer relationship.”

“Hence, there is no legal protection for volunteer nurses. Worst, some hospitals cover themselves from any legal problems by calling their scheme as “training program,” Barcelo said.

According to Barcelo many nurses volunteer to pay for such training programs in the hope that it would bolster their chances of landing in jobs abroad. –Ruben D. Manahan 4th, Manila Times