President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said his administration is committed to raising the profile and improving the working conditions of nurses here and abroad.

He made this commitment in a speech during his attendance at the 100th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Nurses Association, Inc. at The Manila Hotel on Thursday, Sept. 1.

“As part of our goal to raise the profile and improve the working condition of nurses, we seek to address the disparity in salaries between government hospitals with those in the private sector,” he said.

“Also, we must address the uneven distribution of nurses in different areas around the country. In order to do that, we have to address issues related to health facilities, benefits, and security of tenure,” he added.

Marcos acknowledged that the current salaries of nurses in the Philippines need to be raised, but noted that the government may not have available funds to cover this yet.

“Medyo hirap tayo sa pondo ngayon, kaya’t sa ngayon ganyan lang muna. Pero palagay ko…binibuhay nyo ang may sakit e, ibang usapan yan. Mahirap lagyan ng balor, ng dolyar, ng piso yung trabahong ginagawa ninyo (We are still short of funds now, that’s why that will have to do for now. But I think…because you are caring for the sick, that’s a different story. It is difficult to put a price tag on the job you do),” he said.

He noted that his office is “always open” to dialogue to address the issues concerning nurses and allied healthcare professionals.

Marcos also promised to open more slots to the deployment of nurses abroad while striving to improve domestic opportunities.

In terms of legislation, Marcos backed the passage of House Bill 9389 or the New Philippine Nursing Practice Act” which was recently approved by the House of Representatives on final reading and will be submitted to the Senate for action.

“I have taken special note of the clamor to address issues in the nursing profession by the passage of the New Philippine Nursing Practice Act. This Executive Department together with Congress will work with you to achieve these goals,” he said.

As of Aug. 19, Marcos said the government has disbursed a total of PLP25.82 billion worth of benefits to healthcare workers, especially nurses.

These include hazard duty pay, COVID-19 sickness and death compensation, meals, accommodation and transportation allowances, life insurance, special risk allowance, and the One COVID-19 allowance.PNA