Unregistered nurses eyed as complementary manpower to health workers in Covid-19 fight

SPEAKER Lord Allan Velasco has proposed tapping unregistered nurses to augment the current manpower fighting the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Velasco told radio dzME on Tuesday that “I can’t remember if I’ve already sent a letter but my request was since nagkukulang rin tayo sa mga health workers, ang suggestion ko, since na-cancel…’yung board exam, if we can actually tap ‘yung mga supposedly magbo-board exam and use them as health workers”.

“Tutal we can actually ask ‘yung sa PRC na maybe under the parang supervision of a registered nurse or” doctor “pero aral na po iyan…so they’re a resource na we can actually use to help fight the pandemic“, he said.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) had rescheduled the May 2021 Nurses Licensure Examination (NLE) to November 2021.

On Wednesday, the PRC said that the NLE that was rescheduled to November has been moved to July 2021. The second batch of NLE in November, it said, shall be retained. This development came after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases made a request that the rescheduled examination be held at an earlier month.

When asked about Velasco’s proposal, Department of Health (DoH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media forum on Wednesday that “lagi naman ho tayong bukas sa kahit na anong rekomendasyon basta makakatulong sa ating gobyerno dito sa response, lalong-lalo na nga ngayon na nangangailangan talaga tayo ng mga healthcare workers natin (We are always open to any recommendation as long as it will help government in its response, especially now that we really need health workers).”

“Ito po ay isa sa mga tinitingnang mga paraan, ano, even at the start (This is one of the solutions being considered, even at the start)”, Vergeire, DoH spokesman, said.

Source: TheManila Times