Exodus of Filipino nurses to continue with salary veto

The exodus of Filipino nurses is likely to continue after President Aquino vetoed the measure that would have raised the minimum entry level pay of nurses to P26,000 a month. “President Aquino’s veto of consolidated House Bill 6411 and Senate Bill 2720 provides a minimum base pay for nurses of P26,000 per month will drive Filipino nurses to licensed recruitment agencies offering a minimum of P35,000 a month,” recruitment advocate Emmanuel Geslani said in a statement. Citing data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Geslani noted a steady increase in the deployment of Filipino nurses since 2012 in foreign destinations who pay nurses well. Filipino nurses (MB File Photo/ Photo by Ariel Fernandez) “Deployment of Filipino nurses abroad continues to rise in the past years – 15,655 in 2012, 16,444 in 2013 and 19,815 in 2014.  Though POEA has not posted the 2015 statistics the figure is expected to [...]