BAGUIO, Philippines — The termination of all volunteer or trainee nurses in Department of Health (DoH)-retained government hospitals by virtue Department Memorandum no. 0238, have impact on the delivery of health services to the public and will surely compromise the same to the disadvantage of public convenience and better delivery of health care.

This was attested by two doctors of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, who underscored volunteer nurses were also able to prove that most of them are deserving to be in the job with their performance compared to the hired nurses in the hospital.

According to Dr. Nieves Macaranas, head of the Under Five Clinic of the BGHMC, the termination of trainee nurses has an effect in health services delivery. After providing training of at least one month, the trainee nurses are already helping their staff in providing health counseling and basic health care services to the mothers and their babies who comes to their clinic.

Now, they have to do with their 20 regular staff of medical technologists, midwives, nurses and clerks, in providing health care services and assistance to the 170 to 200 (average) patients that go to their clinic a day.

BGHMC Pediatrics Department Head, Dr. Eleanor Cuarte, also attested that their trainee nurses have been their partners in delivering services to their patients, which is not only on taking care of sick children but also of babies who are being delivered or born in the hospitals which averages of about 20 to 30 a day. They also helping providing health related advocacies to both parents and relatives of patients.

“In our New Born Unit, we have about three to four regular staff (nurses) and we take care of healthy and sick babies and their families. And if we have a critically ill baby then a nurse should focus on this single baby alone and forget his other duties,” Cuarte said.

“I think I am for the training program for nurses, as aside from the actual training and experience that these nurses learns they are also of big help in providing health care services to the large number of people who come to government hospitals for consultation and treatment, especially with lack of vacant nurses positions to fill in the deficiency to have an ideal nurses to patient ratio,” Cuarte added.

In the said forum, DoH-CAR Human Resources Management and Development Section head Caridad Binwag, explained the content of the DoH Memo 0238, she also admitted that termination of all nurse volunteers or trainees in government hospitals somehow has an impact in the delivery of health care services.

She explained that there is an standard in staffing that is being followed by the government that the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is now rationalizing. In the meantime, government hospitals would have to rely on its supervision and monitoring to address the gaps left by the termination of volunteer or trainee nurses, she said.

Binwag also urged the regular staff nurses of government hospitals to continue in doing their best to assure the delivery of quality health care services to the public.