Cebu nurses want to quit

CEBU, Philippines —  Forced to undergo quarantine after exposure to COVID-19 patients, over a hundred local nurses have expressed their intention of resigning from work or going on absence without official leave, triggering a further shortage of medical workers on the frontlines in the badly-hit city of Cebu.

The Philippine Nurses Association-Cebu Chapter came up with the figure after recently distributing goods and supplements to nurses who are under isolation in different quarantine facilities in Cebu.

There were those who have, in fact, already resigned or gone AWOL, but PNA-Cebu president Dr. Joseph Stephen Descallar could not give their exact number as the information is confidential for most hospitals.

“Our nurses have signified to resign while others are going AWOL. It’s really our problem right now. Their mental state, the fear of the unknown. They have a lot of fears because they are able to experience it – seeing their colleagues who happen to be positive for COVID-19,” Descallar told The FREEMAN in an interview yesterday.

A 32-year-old nurse working in a private hospital at the North Reclamation Area echoed the Descallar sentiments.

“Each day is a test of survival,” she said in an online chat. “ You want to push yourself to just work, work, work because that's what you have sworn for but the present conditions are just different and scary. A day won't pass without someone dead. ”

Yet fear is not all that is holding nurses back.

Descallar said the anxiety is further compounded by low salary in private hospitals, understaffing, and the absence of hazard pay for nurses.

“Nurses’ salaries in private hospitals are meager. Some private hospitals are not giving them hazard pay. Plus they are operating understaffed. They’ve been really overwhelmed since some nurses are also under quarantine after being exposed to the patients,” he said in mixed English and Cebuano.

Although understaffing has already been an issue in hospitals since the last quarter of 2019, the situation has gone from bad to worse, according to Descallar.

‘Thanks, but…’

In a welcome development, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella earlier announced that the city government will give an incentive of P10, 000 to each health care worker in Cebu City’s private hospitals for a period of three months.

Descallar said PNA is grateful for such move. But he said that they are hoping the aid will not only be limited to a select number of private hospitals or those private hospitals handling COVID-19.

He said others are also deserving of the incentive since all hospital workers, especially nurses, are working “so hard,” even beyond their usual working hours and risking their lives.

“The moment you enter the hospital, you are risking your life. So it (incentive) should be given to all. Not only to chosen or identified COVID hospitals. There are small hospitals that are catering manageable symptoms (of COVID),” Descallar said.

PNA-Cebu is also asking the other LGUs to extend similar incentives to the nurses working in their respective hospitals.

IATF Representation

In an effort to address the plight of nurses, Descallar said PNA-Cebu had sent a letter to Inter-Agency Task Force Cebu overseer Secretary Roy Cimatu seeking an “audience” with him and discuss their concern.

The group is hopeful that aside from the doctors, it also gets a separate seat in the IATF Advisory Council for proper representation.

“Their explanation was, nurses and doctors are already under the DOH, but the scope of DOH is too big. Sometimes, we overlook some things. So it’s better that we are well-represented, the doctors and the nurses,” Descallar said.

PNA-Cebu rolled out over the weekend an online survey among nurses here. The results will be used to craft measures that can hopefully prevent them from resigning.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, in his virtual presser yesterday, said the DOH is in the process of hiring more nurses for Cebu to augment the overburdened nursing personnel here.  JMD (FREEMAN)