Bello proposes increased salary for private hospital nurses

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Wednesday said he will propose an increase in the salary of nurses and medical workers in the private sector.

In a press conference, Bello said that on Thursday he will present a proposal to the Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to increase the entry level salary of nurses and medical workers to around P26,000.

“I am going to present to the IATF a bill that will propose the increase of our nurses and medical workers in the private sector to the level of the nurses and medical workers in the public sector,” he said.

Bello noted that he received the approval from Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to make the suggestion to the IATF.

Earlier, the Filipino Nurses United (FNU) called for an increase in the minimum wage and benefits of private sector nurses, saying they also render the same service as colleagues in the public sector.

While public sector nurses are assured of a pay hike under the Department of Budget and Management’s Circular 2002-4, FNU said nurses in the private sector were not included.

“Sadly, no equivalent decree that may apply for nurses in the private sector to accord them due recognition and at par compensation to ease them from their present miserable condition even though both belong to one profession rendering same service for the general population,” FNU said.

It added that some nurses in the private sector cannot even afford their own basic needs because their salary is “way below” the minimum wage.

“The wage of nurses in the private sector is way below at P537 daily for those in NCR and much lower at P280 per day in BARMM with some nurses getting an insultingly low P5,000 to P10,000 average monthly salary,” the group said. — BM, GMA News