Government Nurse Salary Increase in PH 2021 Budget

MANILA – Government nurses can get a pay increase next year, once the special provision proposed in the 2021 national budget for their compensation adjustment is approved.

Misamis Occidental Second District Representative Henry Oaminal made the proposal during Thursday’s House plenary debates on the Health Department’s proposed budget for next year.

Under the proposal, the following salary grade adjustments will be implemented:

• Nurse 1- from SG 11 to SG 15
• Nurse 2- from SG 15 to SG 17
• Nurse 3- from SG 17 to SG 19
• Nurse 4- from SG 19 to SG 20
• Nurse 5- from SG 20 to SG 22
• Nurse 6- from SG 22 to SG 24
• Nurse 7- from SG 24 to SG 25

Based on the second tranche of the 2019 Salary Normalization Law, which is scheduled to begin in January 2021, that would equal a minimum wage of P33,575 to a maximum of P98,886 for government nurses.

The proposal came after groups of nurses denounced the apparent “demotion” of non-entry-level government nurses under the Department of Budget and Management circular that adjusted nurse positions in conjunction with the implementation of the salary increase. for the position of Nurse 1.

“The spirit of the law … is not just to improve the entry-level salary of nurse one, but it should affect the salary of higher positions, such as nurse 2 to 7,” said Oaminal.

“We have to place a special provision of the General Appropriation Law of 2021. Because if we are going to present legislation … it will probably take the next Congress to act favorably considering the lack of material time,” he added.

The Department of Health (DOH) and the Vice Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative Micaela Violago, support the proposal.

“DOH and I will support this proposal for the special provision for the nurses’ compensation adjustment,” Violago said.

MORATORY ON NURSING CHARGES

The DOH will issue a moratorium on the implementation of the degradation of nursing positions according to the DBM circular, according to Violago.

According to Section 8 of the budget circular, those who are under Nurse I and II will be under the position of Nurse I and will receive a salary grade 15. Those under Nurse III will be reclassified under Nurse II and will continue to receive their current salary of SG 17 .

Those under Nurse IV will be reclassified under Nurse III and will continue to receive their current SG 19 salary, and so on.

Finally, those under Nursing VII will be reclassified as Nurses VI and will continue to receive their current salary of SG 24.

“While there is no definitive character on the issue of how to deal with degradation, it should not be implemented first,” said Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite said.

“DOH will simply issue a moratorium to stop hiring our nurses,” Violago responded.

Meanwhile, Quezon Fourth District Representative Helen Tan, who chairs the House of Representatives health committee, said the agency’s proposed 2021 budget of P204 billion was not enough.

Tan said the agency needed to improve its surveillance and data management systems, which posed a problem early in the COVID-19 crisis.