Loren Lauds RP’s New Doctors

WITH THE PROFESSIONAL REGULATION COMMISSION’S (PRC) ANNOUNCEMENT YESTERDAY OF THE MEDICAL BOARD RESULT, NACIONALISTA VICE PRESIDENTIAL BET LOREN LEGARDA COMMENDED THE 621 DOCTORS WHO PASSED THE PHYSICIAN LICENSURE EXAMINATION AND URGED THEM SERVE THE PHILIPPINE HEALTH SECTOR.
Lamenting the unabated migration of Filipino health workers and the lack of quality healthcare especially in the grassroots, Loren said that unless doctors and nurses are provided with competitive remunerations and more humane working conditions in the Philippines, we are at risk of losing our medical practitioners.
“I know that the salaries of Filipino health workers abroad and here in the Philippines are worlds apart but who will help the Filipinos especially the underprivileged if not our own?” said Loren.
The senator said that the exodus of Filipino health workers cannot be brushed aside as the more experienced doctors and nurses are the ones who are taken by other countries.
She added, “The problem is that even big private hospitals in the country give their workers too little despite raking in money from their operations. This has to change if we are to entice our medical workers to stay.”
To be able to offer competitive salaries to health practitioners, Loren said that hospitals and medical centers must practice corporate social responsibility by taking care of their own workers and not just looking at their profit margin.
“Filipinos have brilliant minds and talent, but there is a serious need to fix the compensation package to attract practitioners to stay in our country,” said Loren who chairs the Senate Committee on Health and Demography.