ADVERTISEMENTThe group was responding to DOH officer in charge Maria Rosario Vergeire, who told a House hearing on appropriations on Thursday about the shortage of nurses needed to provide optimal patient care. “There are so many ‘plantilla’ positions at DOH… why don’t you hire unemployed nurses?,” Andamo asked. “The solution is so simple and it shouldn’t take [12] years [to] address understaffing and increase [nurses’] salary,” she added. Andamo, a retired community nurse, pointed out that there is no nursing “shortage,” only “understaffing” in hospitals as the country has “enough supply” of nurses. This understaffing could make health-care workers prone to errors, and would ultimately compromise the quality of care needed to achieve favorable health outcomes in patients, Andamo said.
