The nurses might soon enjoy a higher salary as the Senate already approved the salary increase for them.
On Thursday, the Senate approved the P31,545 basic salary pay for the Filipino nurses, and it was included in the P4.1-T 2020 national budget of the country.
The salary increase will be enjoyed by Nurse I and Nurse II positions.
Senator Richard Gordon is one of the lawmakers who supported the salary increase for the nursers, saying that hospitals are trying to take advantage of them for a long time.
“For a long time, the nurses of the country have been clamoring for the adjustment of their salaries. They are given low-paying jobs with no benefits, and hospitals have taken advantage of this system in a way that these hospitals become stepping stones for nurses to work abroad,” Gordon said.
Last July, Gordon filed the amendment of Republic Act 9173 or the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002 to give them “opportunities to advance themselves in the nursing field while they serve the country’s growing needs for healthcare professionals,”
“We’re so much closer to giving that justice not just to our nurses, but to our people in need of better health care,” said Gordon.
Senator Bong Go also supported the salary increase, saying that he wanted the nurses to enjoy the salary increase by next year.
“I also want to commend the committee on finance and our distinguished colleagues for taking measures that would allow us to implement the SC decision upholding the validity of Section 32 of the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002, which provides that the ‘minimum base pay of nurses working in the public health institutions shall not be lower than Salary Grade 15,’” Go said.
“This is a long-overdue compensation denied to them. We won’t make (nurses) wait anymore… They will have a salary increase next year,” Go said.