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| Health workers tend to patients inside the COVID-19 emergency response medical tents outside the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center in Tondo, Manila in this undated file photo. (Photo by Miguel de Guzman) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] MANILA: Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses are now fighting another battle, called the “infectious low morale pandemic,” the Filipino Nurses United (FNU) said yesterday. In a webinar, FNU president Maristela Abenojar noted the pandemic has aggravated the sorry state of Filipino nurses who now have to deal with low morale and extreme frustration, PhilStar reported.
“We are now hit by a second pandemic and we call it the ‘infectious low morale pandemic’ or chronic lack of our rights and welfare even after braving 19 months of facing the fearsome fatal coronavirus,” Abenojar said. She lamented the “continued inaction of the government on the nurses’ problems of chronic and severe understaffing and continuous resignation of nurses.” The situation, she said, is “deeply concerning” and is causing demoralization. Abenojar said the government appears unperturbed by nurses’ concerns even in this time of pandemic when they are supposedly regarded as “heroes,” along with other health care workers.
“This is actually a chronic problem. It has been existing for several decades already,” she added. According to Abenojar, some 16,000 nurses left for overseas employment from 2016 to 2019, thus enabling the government to earn millions in dollar remittances.
