Philippine physicians are undergoing nursing studies to obtain better-paying jobs in the United States. Approximately 2,000 physicians in the nation are taking up nursing, the Philippine Nurses Association recently stated, and over 100 doctors took the nursing board examinations in June.
Demand is fueled by a paucity of nurses and other certified caregivers in some western countries. The United States will require an estimated 600,000 nurses by 2010, and Japan will need a further 1.2 million. Dr Resuldo Malintad, the provincial health officer of Davao Oriental province, said doctors considering working abroad have decided to study nursing.
“The very attractive salaries and perks being dangled before Filipino doctors and nurses abroad are simply irresistible,” he said. A nurse working in a government hospital in the Philippines earns about P10,000 a month while their counterparts in the United States or the United Kingdom could earn up to P200,000 monthly, Dr Malintad said, adding his predecessor had resigned to work in a New York hospital. Dr. Malintad cautioned that government hospitals in the Philippines could regress into clinic status if the current exodus continues unabated.
“The trend is already very alarming. Many of the municipal, provincial and city health officers are now joining the exodus of our nurses and doctors to Europe and the United States,” Dr Malintad said.
In Negros Occidental about 50 of its 300 doctors have enrolled in nursing programs. The provincial health officer, Ely Villapando, said Negros Oriental would suffer from a shortage of medical staff down the line because physicians studying nursing “will be leaving in one-and-a-half years.”
“In other provinces, I am told that the number are bigger,” Mr Villapando said. He discussed the problem with Mila Fernandez, the Philippine health secretary, at a meeting in Manila late last year.
“I thought we were the only province with this problem but when I brought it up before a gathering of provincial health officers, they all said they, too were having the same problem,” Mr Villapando said. A government doctor in Bais City, Negros Oriental, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he enrolled in nursing because of higher salaries within the profession.
“We will be earning in one month in the United States as nurses what we make here in the Philippines for a year as doctors,” he said. “Many people ask us whether we are bothered by our conscience over this decision but let me ask you: ‘Has the government ever bothered about us?’” he remarked. He commented that all department heads at Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital had turned to nursing.”
Mr Villapando blames the devolution of the Department of Health in 1992 as the cause of today’s shortage of health-care professionals in the country. Under devolution, the provinces administered provincial hospitals, city health offices were placed under the city’s jurisdiction and towns operated their municipal health offices. Physician salaries were consequently the last to be standardized, according to Mr Villapando.
“Qt’s degrading for (government) doctors to get a lower salary than the janitor of the Government Service Insurance System, or of a Senior Police Officer 2,” he said, adding the government needs to place a higher priority on the welfare of its physicians.
“If one doctor is missing, it is already a problem. If two doctors are missing, that's bad,” he said. Negros Oriental’s health-service delivery was recognized as being No. 1 nationwide last year. The province consequently became a “Lakbay-Aral” site for provinces wanting to emulate its award-winning inter-local health zones or the District Health Systems. Mr Villapando cautioned the province might be unable to sustain this level if its physicians assume nursing careers overseas .Dr Malintad said government doctors have suggested barring physicians and nurses from working abroad until they have served for at least two years within the Philippines.
“Of course, nothing can stop them from leaving abroad, that is their basic right. But we should at least regulate the exodus or else we will face a big problem,” Dr Malintad said.
