Senate panel tackles ‘exploitation’ of OJT nurses

A Senate panel on Tuesday started investigating the alleged exploitation of registered nurses by several hospitals nationwide by hiring them as on-the-job trainees (OJT) and not as regular employees. As OJTs, these nurses are deprived of proper compensation entitled to regular employees, according to Sen. Pia Cayetano, chair of the Senate committee on health and demography. She said some OJT nurses were even made to pay from P5,000 to P7,000 for the supposed training or certification, depending on the hospital and the duration of the training, which may last from six weeks to eight months. “These alleged anomalous practices are considered money-making schemes of hospitals that only aggravate and contribute to the problem of unemployment and underemployment of nurses in the country," Cayetano said in Senate Resolution 166, which seeks Senate investigation on the issue. Exploitation? During the hearing, Dr. Leah Primitiva Samaco-Paquiz of the Nurse Advocates for Rights and Socio-Economic Political Responsibility (Ang NARS) said since there is an oversupply of job applicants, hospitals do not open new positions for nurses and do not fill up vacated plantilla positions in order to save on salaries. Paquiz also said some hospitals offer three-month “training programs" for nurses wherein they are given the same responsibilities as staff nurses but are only given a monthly allowance of P1,000. “There is no promise that they (nurses) will be given a position," she said. Cayetano said since nurses need to comply with a required minimum two-year work experience for employment abroad, they are “constrained" to work as OJTs in hospitals even with salaries beyond minimum wage. Cayetano said she was surprised that no formal complaint has been filed by any nurse regarding the issue. Alvin Cloyd Dakis, president of the Association of Young Nurse Leaders and Advocates International, said they have been receiving a lot of complaints regarding the exploitative nature of the training programs. “These young nurses are the ones being exploited. We are risking our license, we are risking our profession tapos magbabayad pa kami (and yet we have to pay) for that," he said during the hearing. Denial In a letter to Cayetano, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAP), Inc. denied that some of their members are employing registered nurses as OJTs without giving them proper compensation. “The said allegation is not true as we have done random checking middle of last year of various medical centers. Maybe in some remote areas in the provinces, that might be happening but at this time we (have) not received any complaints," the group said. The PHAP likewise challenged the supposed victims and the Senate to report any private hospitals that exploit nurses. But Dr. Hermogenes Jarin, president of the Philippine Hospital Association, admitted that there are hospitals that are making money out of the training programs. He, however, noted that not all hospitals are "bad" or "rotten apples" because many nursing graduates actually need the training that the facilities are offering. “The good ones are being lumped into a money-making institution but let me assure you that those hospitals with training programs are doing everything they can to improve the quality of nursing graduates," he said during the inquiry. There are around 400 hospitals around the country that offer training programs for nurses, according to Dr. Kenneth Ronquillo, director of the Department of Health’s (DOH) Health Human Resource Development Bureau. Next step Cayetano said there is a need to look into the existing policies and regulations of the DOH, which is tasked to oversee the operations of hospitals nationwide. “There is a need to look into these contentions as they are demeaning not only to the nurses but to the entire nursing profession in the country," she said. Jarin said he will try to convince his colleagues to stop the practice. “We will try our best to campaign and persuade our members," he said. Last September, Sen. Franklin Drilon said he wants to look into the situation of Filipino on-the-job trainees in Singapore who are allegedly being forced to work in hotels there for half of the minimum wage. Ang NARS said the Philippines had produced 280,000 registered nurses from 1998 to 2010, thus paving the way for “unfair" labor practices. - KBK, GMANews.TV