MANILA - Voting 213-0-0, the House of Representatives on Monday approved on final reading House Bill 9389 or the “New Philippine Nursing Practice Act.”

The bill will be submitted to the Senate for action.

According to its congressional fact sheet, the proposed measure seeks to institute reforms to further protect and develop the nursing profession in the country.

It will repeal Republic Act No. 9173, or the "Philippine Nursing Act of 2002.”

If enacted into law, it will restructure the scope and practice of nursing by providing for certification and specialization and expanding the powers of the Board of Nursing to strengthen its role in decision-making processes.

Additional educational requirements for nurses at different levels of practice will also be provided. The Board of Nursing will be authorized to prescribe and operationalize a "National Career Progression Program" to ensure continuing professional development of Filipino nurses.

It requires the board, with the assistance of various nursing specialty boards, to create a council for nursing advancement, recognition and specialization.

Conditions will be also set for allowing foreign nurses to practice the profession in the Philippines.

The Board of Nursing, in coordination with the Accredited Professional Organization (APO), will be mandated also to formulate and develop an advanced practice nursing program that will ensure continuous upgrading of competence of specialty nurse clinicians in the country.

The board, with the health department and other government agencies concerned, will establish an incentive and benefit system in the form of free hospital care for nurses and their dependents, scholarship grants and other non-cash benefit, under the act.

Advanced practice nurses will be able to receive payments from Philippine Health Insurance in the form of professional fees.

Under the act, qualification requirements for teaching faculty in the baccalaureate and post-graduate nursing degree programs will be set.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate voted for the bill despite objecting to some provisions. According to him, some provisions such as the return service agreement, which mandates nurses to serve in the country for a few years before finding a job abroad, can be avoided.

“Sa halip na RSA na sapilitan, dapat hikayatin natin ang ating mga nars na dito sa Pilipinas magtrabaho sa pamamagitan ng nakabubuhay na sahod, sapat na benepisyo, humane working conditions, pagsugpo ng kontraktwalisasyon at pagrespeto sa kanilang mga karapatan,” he said.

The Philippine Nurses Association last week said it does not encourage health workers' plan to hold mass resignations but cannot blame them should they do so as COVID-19 cases rise across the country.

Around 40 percent of private hospital nurses have quit their jobs, PNA national president Melbert Reyes added, citing data from the Private Hospitals Association Philippines.

• Nurses' group discourages health workers' mass resignation

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