President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has pledged to address staffing shortages and heavy workloads among nurses in public hospitals, including lowering nurse-to-patient ratios and filling vacant positions.
Speaking at the Philippine Nurses Association National Convention in Pasay City on Monday, Marcos said the government would work to reduce the number of patients assigned to each nurse while accelerating the filling of vacant nursing positions.
Under Department of Health standards, the ideal nurse-to-patient ratio is 1:12, or one nurse for every 12 patients. However, actual conditions in hospitals can require a single nurse to care for as many as 50 patients during a shift.
Marcos said the government is working with the Department of Health, the Commission on Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to expand nursing training and develop alternative pathways for nursing education.
The initiative aims to increase the number of licensed health care workers, ease the workload of existing nurses and help ensure that patients receive appropriate services.
Malacañang also assured medical frontliners that the administration would continue advocating for their benefits, protection and professional growth.
The commitments come as the government seeks to address staffing gaps and improve working conditions for public hospital nurses.
No specific timeline or numerical hiring target was provided in the supplied report.
