TO ADDRESS the mass migration of Filipino nurses, Senator Raffy Tulfo proposed the grant of full nursing scholarship to deserving students.

Tulfo suggested that the beneficiaries of the scholarship must be required to serve in government hospitals for at least four to five years after graduation to ensure that hospitals have enough nurses.

He noted that the ideal nurse to patient ratio is 1:4, but the current ratio in the Philippines is estimated at 1:20, which compromises nursing care and exhausts nurses.

The proposal is beneficial both for aspiring nurses, especially those from poor families who need educational assistance, and government hospitals facing shortage of healthcare workers.

The senator also asked the Department of Health to address the discrimination that Filipino nurses face in the workplace, including the selective grant of benefits such as hazard pay.

Tulfo said that only nurses who were exposed to Covid19 patients or were assigned to the Covid19 wards were the ones eligible for hazard pay.

“We should be sensitive sa mga needs ng ating mga nurses. Kailangan natin silang alagaan at tratuhin nang maayos. We should be fair. Importante din na gamitin ang common sense in addressing their needs,” he said.

He stressed that all nurses are at risk of getting the infection the moment that they travel to work to the time that they reach the hospitals to care for their patients for hours on end.