The Northern Samar provincial government has announced Tuesday they need at least 100 nurses for their provincial and district hospitals to renew or retain their accreditation.

The local government revealed that the Northern Samar provincial hospital (NSPH) in Catarman town needs an additional 61 nurses for the facility to be accredited as a Level 2 hospital by the Department of Health (DOH).

Allen District Hospital in Allen town has a shortage of 10 nurses to retain its Level 1 status.

The rest of the district infirmary hospitals in the towns of Biri, Capul, Catubig, Gamay, Laoang (GB Tan Memorial Hospital), San Antonio, and San Vicente has a total demand of 43 additional nurses, the provincial government said in a statement.

Northern Samar provincial health officer Ninfa Caparosso-Kam said the lack of health workers is a major setback in their bid to elevate the status of hospitals this year from the DOH regulatory, licensing, and enforcement division.

“District hospitals were reduced to infirmaries. Mere infirmaries will not be able to perform surgeries. The Level 1 hospital has requirements — laboratory equipment, type of services available, number of doctors and nurses. It’s hard to meet. So far, only the Allen District Hospital is Level 1 among district hospitals in the province,” Kam told local officials in a meeting.

Level 1 hospitals cater to patients who need minor care and supervision and don’t require intensive care units (ICU). These facilities are also equipped with operating rooms.

A Level 2 hospital contains all the elements of Level 1, as well as additional facilities like an ICU for critically ill patients and specialist doctors for gynecology and pediatric services.

Kam urged the provincial health board to increase the pay of hospital nurses and to provide most of the additional benefits.

Another recommendation is to fast-track the promotion of Nurses I to Nurses II to create vacant positions for contractual ones.

Cesarith Hernandez, NSPH chief nurse, said the low salary of nurses employed by local governments makes the job less attractive to new graduates.

She joined the call to raise the starting salary of nurses in provincial and district hospitals to PHP31,000 from the current PHP21,000 monthly.

“The NSPH has a 100-bed capacity but we cater to 160 to 180 patients a day. The standard nurse-to-patient ratio is 1 nurse per 12 patients. Currently, two nurses attend to the medical needs of 55 patients in a ward,” Hernandez added.

NSPH, the biggest hospital in the province has 145 nurses with 43 permanent and 102 contractual. The eight local-government-supervised district hospitals have 106 nurses. (PNA)