Hospitals fear shortage of nurses amid exodus of healthcare workers

HAILED by government as the new breed of heroes amidst the ongoing health crisis brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, local healthcare workers continue to leave the country in an exodus that has started more than a decade ago to search for greener pastures and better compensation.

This has triggered grave concern from several medical institutions, among them the country’s largest referral facility for Covid-19 which is now suffering from a scarcity of nurses and even doctors.

According to Philippine General Hospital (PGH) spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario, (they) are now experiencing an ‘exodus’ of nurses, following the resignation of a total of 107 of them since the middle of last year.

“We are feeling the effect of the lack of nurses. We are trying our best to deploy them to where they are most needed,” Del Rosario disclosed with serious misgivings.

He cited that from the nurses who left PGH, 59 resigned last year while 48 left from January to June this year and this has prompted the hospital to fear that this would not be the last as more nurses are planning to resign in the following months.

“We are worried. We offer services not only to Covid-19 patients. In fact, we are having an influx of non-Covid patients. (Our) hospital’s emergency room is usually attending to 150 patients, more than double its 70-bed capacity,” he described the worsening situation.

However, despite the influx of patients and the lack of nurses, Del Rosario gave assurances to the general public that they are doing their best to provide healthcare for all their patients.

“We are in coordination with the DoH (Department of Health) since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, the DoH sent their employed nurses to augment us,” he said.