SOME 100 volunteer nurses at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) protested Wednesday a recent memorandum circular terminating their voluntary services and trainings.
Elena Tampican, BGHMC chief nurse, said they received the circular from Department of Health (DOH) Regional Director Myrna Cabotaje, relaying orders from DOH Secretary Enrique Ona, to terminate nurse volunteer programs and volunteer training programs for nurses, especially those involved in fee collections.
An irate volunteer nurse, who asked anonymity, told Sun.Star Baguio that there should have been prior notice to their termination as she voluntarily paid the P4,000 training fee at BGHMC for specialized training not given in other hospitals.
Another source said it is about time the DOH acts on the questionable collection of fees of DOH-retained hospitals because they do not explain where the collected fees go.
Tampican, in an interview last June, said the P4,000 training fee they collect from volunteer nurses covers training materials, modules and honoraria of speakers of the training.
In the DOH memorandum, Ona said the current practice of registered nurses volunteering in hospitals to gain work experience or to gain certification for purposes of meeting requirements for employment abroad, is not consistent with Republic Act 9418 or the Volunteer Act of 2007.
Many hospitals have implemented nurse volunteerism in the guise of training programs in order to justify the collection of training fees, whereby such basic skills training puts no added value to their professional careers, Ona added.
In the region, the four DOH-retained hospitals affected are BGHMC, Luis Hora Memorial Hospital, Conner District Hospital and Far North Luzon General Hospital and Training Center.
At the BGHMC alone, some 400 nurses have been volunteering for different specialized fields, DOH-CAR human resource management and development officer Carmen Binwag said.
Binwag said DOH’s memorandum is an answer to the numerous complaints they received from parents of registered nurses and volunteer nurses themselves in various government hospitals nationwide on questionable collection of training fees.
She added the government has been finding ways to employ registered nurses as answer to the surplus of professionals, such as the RN Heals Program deploying them to rural areas. Priority is given to nurses coming from lower income earning bracket.
Read the full article at SunStar Baguio http://www.sunstar.com.ph/baguio/local-news/2011/09/24/volunteer-nurses-face-termination-181197
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