British Parliamentarian seeks help to address concerns of Filipino nurses

03/09/2010 00:01:00

Volunteering British Member of the Parliament (MP) David Amess shared the highlights of his brief but meaningful visit to the Philippines in a culminating forum entitled “Valuing Filipino Nurses and Health Workers” held on September 2, 2010 at the Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City.

Mr. Amess spent two weeks in the Philippines as a VSO Bahaginan volunteer to support the advocacy of Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) for a positive practice environment (PPE) which would mean better work conditions for Filipino nurses in order to provide quality health services to the people.

“The Filipino nurses are the finest nurses in the world. They just don’t realize the power that they have” said Mr. Amess, “they are the best advertisement of your country.”

Mr. Amess identified crucial issues and concerns of the nurses in the country. One of the issues raised is the unemployment and underemployment of nurses evident with the lack of available positions in the hospitals, lack of plantilla positions for nurses in public health, contractualization of nurses through job-order schemes and rampant practice of hiring paying “volunteer” nurses in exchange for alleged training experience. He would like to address these through creating more plantilla positions in public health services especially in rural areas, enact legislation to prevent hiring of “volunteer” nurses and institutionalize mechanisms for Nurse Entrepreneurship Program which was started by the Department of Labor and Employment in January 2010.

He’d also like to address the non-implementation of decent wage and due benefits according to approved laws through the immediate implementation of the Nursing Law of 2002 and full implementation of the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers.

Another issue raised by the volunteering parliamentarian was the lack of monitoring plight of Filipino nurses overseas as some become victims of illegal recruitment agencies or unfair labor practices. Because of this, he’d like to implement the World Health Organization Code of Ethical Recruitment of Health Professionals which will involve different accredited nursing organizations in the drafting of bilateral and multilateral agreements with countries needing Filipinos nurses.

These issues and recommendations were results of the series of meetings he attended with different government agencies throughout his stay. He met with various government agencies and organizations such as the Department of Health, Ifugao local chief executives, Philippines Overseas Employment Administration, and the Department of Labor and Employment.

“I am privileged to work with PNA in order to strengthen their advocacy and lobbying work for better quality of health services for the poor people in the communities. I’d also like to thank VSO Bahaginan for giving me an opportunity to do volunteer work to help the Filipino nurses as they are some of the most caring and hospitable nurses I’ve ever met. There is a need to create more opportunities for them locally to avoid depletion of the supply of nurses in the Philippines,” said Mr. Amess.

Mr. Amess’ work with PNA is part of his involvement in the Parliamentarian Volunteering Scheme organized by VSO Bahaginan, a development organization that is helping to alleviate poverty through a range of volunteering programs and raising awareness about development issues such as right to health. The Parliamentarian Volunteering Scheme of VSO engages influential public servants as catalysts for social projects to achieve rapid progress in a short amount of time. Mr. Amess’ particular work with PNA forms part of VSO’s Valuing Health Workers advocacy which supports achievement of health related Millennium Development Goals focused on improving quality of health care

The aim of all VSO work in health is to achieve stronger, more inclusive and accessible health systems so that the poorest and most vulnerable populations can realize their right to health. VSO Bahaginan implements volunteering and advocacy programs to bring the voices and expertise of health workers in to the attention of policy makers to suggest solutions.

Editor's notes

• VSO Bahaginan is a development organization committed to fighting global poverty and disadvantage through a wide range of volunteering development programs.

• VSO Bahaginan is a member of the VSO Federation, together with other independent members located in Canada, Kenya, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

• VSO is an international development organization that works through volunteers. VSO envisions a world without poverty in which people work together to fulfill their potential.