Calls for increased compensation for registered nurses were aired on Thursday following reports that the Philippines produced only 37,000 new nurses in 2024, nearly half the number recorded over a decade ago.

Quezon City Representative Marvin Rillo, vice chair of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, expressed concern that many newly registered nurses might not pursue their profession due to the inadequate local compensation.

The Philippines is the top supplier of nurses worldwide, but Filipino nurses often seek greener pastures abroad due to the low salaries in the country, leaving local hospitals understaffed.

“We are not paying our new nurses enough to encourage them to practice their profession. We must invest more in our nurses if we want to retain them in the local health sector,” Rillo said.

Acute shortage

2023, the Philippines had a shortage of 127,000 nurses, a figure projected to rise to 250,000 by 2030, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Data from the Professional Regulation Commission showed that the 37,098 newly registered nurses in 2024 marked only a slight increase from the 36,525 in 2023. These numbers were significantly lower than the annual average of 63,800 new nurses recorded more than a decade ago, Rillo noted.

Currently, entry-level nurses at Department of Health (DoH) hospitals receive a basic monthly salary of P40,208 (Salary Grade 15). Their private sector counterparts are in a worse situation.

Digido.ph, a financial website, said that private nurses typically received P12,000 to P15,000 per month.

To address the issue, Rillo filed a bill proposing a 74-percent increase in the basic monthly pay of entry-level nurses in government hospitals, raising it to P70,013 (Salary Grade 21).

In the Senate, Senator Raffy Tulfo has advocated for a similar measure, proposing a 40-percent increase in entry-level nurses’ pay, setting it at P56,390 (Salary Grade 19).

Both bills aim to amend the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002, emphasizing the need to improve nurses’ salaries to address the growing shortage and retain local talent in the healthcare sector.