Unemployed nurses urged to try hand at entrepreneurship

Unemployed Filipino nurses should opt for entrepreneurial opportunities such as setting up clinics and small pharmacies, the government said on Sunday, noting the current oversupply of nurses. “Our vision for our unemployed nurses is not only for them to have productive wage employment. Operating and managing their own nursing clinics also offers sustainable income," said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz. Baldoz noted that the global financial turmoil, particularly in the US and the United Kingdom, has resulted in the limited hiring of foreign nurses, including those from the Philippines. In a recent briefing, Ofelia Domingo, Labor director in the CARAGA region, boasted of 25 Surigao del Norte nurses who had decided to set up their own “entreprenurse" clinics. These nurses worked for six months under the Nurses Assigned in Rural Service (NARS) program by the Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Health. The program provides entrepreneurial skills to medical professionals and increase health clinics in rural areas, Baldoz said. The nurses were able to get fund assistance from DOLE worth P1.068 million, of which P850,000 was for the purchase of equipment and clinic fixtures, and P217,000 as their equity to be sourced from the members. The nurse clinic provides consultation; laboratory procedures such as complete blood count, fasting blood sugar, random blood sugar, urinalysis, stool exam and sputum exam; private duty nursing; parenteral medication; IVF insertion; ATS/tetanus toxoid injection; nebulization; wound cleaning and dressing; catheterization; oxygen administration; foot and palm reflex; and thermal therapy. The nurses' group also plans to establish a mini-pharmacy, Baldoz said. According to the Professional Regulation Commission, the country has 287,000 underemployed nurses, some of whom are working on volunteer duty without pay while others took jobs not related to the course. Enrollment in nursing colleges swelled in recent years because of the lure of employment overseas, particularly in the US. — KBK, GMA News