HEALTH Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial assured nurses who will lose jobs in the government’s rural health program that there are 10,000 plantilla positions for them and government hospitals have already been increasing their nursing personnel.
Ubial said many nurses are expected to lose their regular positions in the rural health program because the DoH’s budget for 2017 cannot pay for their services but there are new positions in the drug treatment and rehab centers and these were included in next year’s budget.
“These are also available for hiring in the plantilla position,” said Ubial after Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto urged lawmakers to rescue the thousands of DoH jobs in peril if Congress will not override the government’s plan to downsize the number of frontline health personnel.
He said thousands of nurses, doctor, dentists will face the dreaded “endo” (end of contract) at the end of the year.
Recto noted that the proposed cut was triggered by the payroll ceiling given to DoH for 2017 which could not accommodate the retention of all Rural Health Practice Program personnel as it has to fund the second round salary increases for its regular personnel under the Salary Standardization Law IV.
Recto said he is working closely with Ubial on how to minimize the displacement “which was something that was merely imposed on the DoH.”
Ubial said they’re trying to make sure that nobody will be rendered jobless or at least minimize the number.
She said the DoH will absorb a good number of the almost 7000 rural health workers who will be affected by the department’s payroll ceiling and the mandated pay hike.
She said there is a number of nurses in their deployment program that were absorbed and given plantilla positions.
Recto said the biggest cut will be in the deployment of nurses—from 15,727 this year to 9,349 in 2017, which means 6,378 nurses contracted under the Nurse Deployment Program will be axed.
The senator also said that unless rectified, the number of doctors hired under the RHHP will be slashed by one-half, and nurses, by one-third.
Recto said that under the agency’s “Doctors to the Barrios” program, the number of physicians assigned to low-income towns will go down from 946 this year to 435 next year, or 511 fewer.
Ubial admitted the DOH lacks doctors. While they opened up 398 positions for doctors, they only hired over 200 doctors.
“We have 112 positions, but there are no takers for doctors. Although we have put plantilla or permanent positions for doctors in our hospitals, still there are no takers, nobody is applying,” she said.
Recto said the Senate can explore many options “to save these jobs or at least cushion the effects of what amounts to be a mass retrenchment.”
“First, we can infuse funds. The 6,000 affected nurses alone would require something like P2 billion,” Recto said.
“We can also insert a provision in the national budget would state that the affected personnel should have first priority in being absorbed by other or new programs of the Rural Health Practice Program,” he said, referring to the official name of the rural manpower assignment project.
