By: BEA JEANNEL A. DELOS REYES
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—Some 136 registered nurses were hired to locate and serve the indigent families from the 505 barangays of the province of Pampanga.
These nurses are tasked to ensure the utilization of the Philippine Health Insurance membership of the indigent families under the “Provincial Government’s Nurses sa Nayon Project.”
Like hitting two birds with one stone, Governor Lilia Pineda came up with the project to address the increasing number of unemployed nurses and to find the poorest of the poor of Pampanga who are already cardholders to help them access the benefits offered by Philhealth.
The Nurses sa Nayon project is also aimed at helping the indigent families to register to the government health insurance service if they are not yet members.
“The Nurses sa Nayon Project was conceptualized by Governor Pineda because she really wanted the poor Kapampangan to avail of these services for free.
She wanted them to know of the different services offered so they can benefit from it,” said Provincial Health Officer Dr Marcelo Jaochico.
He added, out of 55,000 Philhealth members in Pampanga, only 20-30% have been availing Philhealth services based on PHO findings.
These 136 nurses will help in promoting the advocacies of Philhealth and families under National Household Targeting System for Poverty Reduction (NHTS-PR) who are sick and refer them to the provincial and district hospitals.
“The Capitol hopes that the deployment of these registered nurses will greatly affect the increase in the utilization rate of Philhealth services from NHTS families,” Jaochico said.
According to Jaochico, all 46 Rural Health Units (RHUs) and 11 district hospitals of the Province have been accredited by Philhealth and are carrying out its services.
Some of the services include Primary Care Benefit Package, Maternal Care Package and TB-DOTS (Tuberculosis Directly Observed Treatment Short-Course).
Apart from this, Jaochico disclosed that aside from the nurses assigned in the RHUs, some of them will be assigned to man the newly constructed birthing stations in the province.
The hired nurses will be given P8,500/month from the Capitol and an additional allowance for food and travel expenses from Governor Pineda.
The Provincial Government aims to hire at least 150 nurses for Nurses sa Nayon project.
