Health Workers

240,000 gov't health workers said to face layoffs

Christian V. Esguerra
Inquirer News Service

SOME 240,000 government health workers are set to be laid off notwithstanding the unabated exodus of doctors and nurses to other countries and the slash in the budget of already cash-strapped state hospitals that has adversely affected the delivery of health services.

The Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD), a national organization of doctors, nurses and other health professionals, said the Department of Health is set to implement Executive Order No. 366 which would streamline the bureaucracy to save money.

Dr. Gene Nisperos, HEAD secretary general, said the layoffs would affect key government hospitals which already lack medical personnel as a result of budget problems.

The Philippine Orthopedic Center, for instance, should have 1,100 employees but is actually short by 99 people, he said.

The National Center for Mental Health and the San Lazaro Hospital, the government's primary treatment facility for victims of rabies, also lack medical personnel, he said.

The NCMH has only 1,570 employees while San Lazaro has 826 even if they should have 1,870 and 890 workers, respectively.

Another vital government hospital, the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center in Manila, has a bed capacity of only 450 but admits around 600 patients daily, excluding 1,400 out-patient cases.

"What price is exacted from health personnel who are expected to provide quality health care?" Nisperos asked.

The Alliance of Health Workers on Friday predicted that the country's health care system would collapse in two to three years if doctors and nurses continued to leave for higher paying jobs abroad.

From 2000 to 2003 alone, the group said the country lost 51,850 nurses.

Some 5,000 registered doctors also left in the last four years while around 4,000 are now taking up nursing, according to the group.

Nisperos said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was not doing enough to address the serious problems besetting the health care system.

"She has remained blind to the deteriorating state of public hospitals and remained deaf to the pleas of health workers for just wages and better working conditions," he said.

Nisperos' group was dismayed after the Arroyo administration cut the budget of the Tondo Medical Center last year to only P20 million a month compared to nearly P28 million monthly in 2002.