Akbayan! solons want barangay health workers trained as nurses, doctors

AKBAYAN Representatives Risa Hontiveros and Walden Bello filed a bill that establishes a program for barangay health workers (BHWs) to train them as midwives, nurses, doctors and other health professionals.

“Global outbreaks like the swine flu are exacerbated by our lack of nurses and doctors. This program could help fill the gap created by the migration of our health professionals,” said Rep. Hontiveros, the principal author of the measure. “Furthermore, with better training, our BHWs could become an effective and efficient first line of defense against the swine flu and other diseases.”

“The migration of our health professionals has seriously impaired the provision of health services, especially at the community level. Hospitals have actually closed down in the past three years because of the lack of nurses and doctors,” Rep. Hontiveros said.

She said that an innovative training program for BHWs could help reverse the brain drain. “It is true that we lack nurses and doctors. However, our pool of potential health professionals could be expanded if the government could tap and capacitate our BHWs, which today number around 1.3 million,” Rep. Hontiveros pointed out.

“We can train our BHWs to become midwives, pharmacists, occupation therapists, dentists, physical therapists, nurses and doctors,” Rep. Hontiveros said.

Called as the “Bibong BHW Education and Training Program”, the program seeks to institutionalize a training and education program initiated by the University of the Philippines.

“The Bibong BHW program offers a ladderize training and education scheme for barangay health workers. The first step is a basic training on community healthcare delivery, which shall be mandatory to all BHWs. The second step is a more comprehensive training on community health work where they could specialize in midwifery, pharmacology, occupation therapy, dentistry, or physical therapy,” she said.

The next two steps would be more rigorous and specialized. “Step three is a course for those who wish to become nurses. It’s a 15-month program that shall include all the necessary courses on nursing. Graduates of this course shall be eligible to take the Nursing Licensure Board Examination,” she said.

“To be eligible to take the licensure examination for doctors, they have to take a five-year program that shall include all courses on Medicine,” Rep. Hontiveros said.

The bill also grants additional benefits for BHWs, among them full scholarships, socialized subsidies, or study now pay later schemes for those who wish to proceed to advanced courses; an increase in their allowance to 4,500, exclusive of other allowances; mandatory Philhealth membership for all accredited BHWs, and free medical services for veteran BHWs.

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