OFWs Party-list Rep. Marissa “Del Mar” Magsino urged the Commission on Higher Education to lift the moratorium on the offering of nursing programs and provide guidelines for new applications.

Magsino said that the Covid19 pandemic highlighted the worsening shortage of health workers, especially nurses.

The lawmaker stressed the importance of lifting the moratorium as the demand for Filipino nurses continue to increase, not only for health institutions in the Philippines but also abroad.

“Our nurses are in demand all over the world, more so after the emergence of the Covid19 pandemic. They are recognized not only for their competence but also for their compassion for and dedication to their patients, which is innate in Filipinos. We need to balance this demand with sufficient supply, hence it is our hope that the guidelines will indeed be approved and published as committed by CHED to allow our HEIs to open new nursing programs as soon as possible,” Magsino said.

Based on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals requirement, the Philippines needs 300,470 nurses to meet the ratio of 27.4 nurses for every 10,000-population.

To date, the country only has 99,205 nurses, resulting in a shortfall of 201,265 nurses.

Meanwhile, CHED Commissioner Aldrin Darilag said the agency is finalizing a memorandum order that will provide the guidelines for the application of higher education institutions for new nursing programs, thus superseding CHED Memorandum 32, series of 2010, which imposed the moratorium.

CHED committed to finalize the guidelines in December 2022.