‘Train village health workers to nurses’

June 26, 2009 10:01:00
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—The country’s 1.3 million village health workers should be given the chance to train as midwives, nurses, doctors, and other health professionals, said Akbayan Representatives Risa Hontiveros and Walden Bello.

The two congressmen filed a bill establishing such a program to fill the gap created by migration of health professionals. Called “Bibong BHW Education and Training Program,” the program seeks to institutionalize a training and education program initiated by the University of the Philippines.

The program offers a ladderized training and education scheme for barangay (village) health workers. The first step is a basic training on community healthcare delivery, which shall be mandatory to all BHWs. The second step is a more comprehensive training on community health work where they could specialize in midwifery, pharmacology, occupation therapy, dentistry, or physical therapy.

The next two steps would be more rigorous and specialized. Step three is a course for those who wish to become nurses. It’s a 15-month program that shall include all the necessary courses on nursing. Graduates of this course shall be eligible to take the Nursing Licensure Board Examination.

To be eligible to take the licensure examination for doctors, they have to take a five-year program that shall include all courses on Medicine.

The bill also grants additional benefits for BHWs, among them full scholarships, socialized subsidies, or study now pay later schemes for those who wish to proceed to advanced courses; an increase in their allowance to P4,500, exclusive of other allowances; mandatory PhilHealth membership for all accredited BHWs; and free medical services for veteran BHWs.

“Global outbreaks like the swine flu are exacerbated by our lack of nurses and doctors. With better training, our BHWs (barangay health workers) could become an effective and efficient first line of defense against the swine flu and other diseases,” said Hontiveros, the principal author of the measure.

“The migration of our health professionals has seriously impaired the provision of health services, especially at the community level. Hospitals have actually closed down in the past three years because of the lack of nurses and doctors,” she said.

Hontiveros said this training program for BHWs could help reverse the brain drain.

“Our pool of potential health professionals could be expanded if the government could tap and capacitate our BHWs, which today number around 1.3 million,” she pointed out.

“We can train our BHWs to become midwives, pharmacists, occupation therapists, dentists, physical therapists, nurses, and doctors,” she said.