THE Commission on Higher Education yesterday lifted the decade-old moratorium on new nursing undergraduate and graduate programs in response to the need for more nurses and other health care personnel in the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Yesterday, the commission en banc, after a very thorough review and study of the moratorium on nursing, decided to lift the moratorium on nursing which was imposed in 2011 based on an exhaustive discussion,” CHED chair Prospero de Vera III said in a press briefing.
The Commission issued in September 2010 Memorandum Order No. 32 stopping the opening of all undergraduate and graduate programs in nursing (BS Nursing, MA Nursing, Master of Nursing and PhD Nursing) beginning academic year 2011-2012.
The moratorium was imposed due to the gradual decline of the quality of graduates and the proliferation of higher education institutions (HEIs) offering nursing programs. De Vera said this led to the oversupply of nursing graduates, with more than 200,000 nurses finding no jobs.
De Vera said the call of various sectors to lift the moratorium was the main factor behind their decision.
“There were calls to lift the moratorium because of the perceived lack of nurses and health care personnel which was seen as a critical area in ensuring hospital care and vaccination of Filipinos during this pandemic,” De Vera said, adding that the Commission has “been studying the lifting of the moratorium for some time.”
The moratorium was also issued to address complaints of nursing students that they have to pay hospitals to get on-the-job training and certification.
To support the lifting of the moratorium, De Vera presented data from the Department of Health showing the country needs 201,265 more nurses based on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requirement.
“If you look at the total nurses in the Philippines and the current nurse to population ratio, you will notice that there is really a big gap in the supply side,” he explained.
De Vera said that based on the SDG requirements, there should be 27.4 nurses for a population of 10,000.
“The Philippines currently has 90,205 nurses but ideally it needs 300,470,” he said, citing the DOH data.
Among the regions in urgent need of higher education institutions offering nursing programs are Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas, Caraga, BARMM, CAR and Soccksargen.
Mimaropa has only 1,613 nurses when ideally it should have 8,945, Eastern Visayas 3,567 but should have 13,320, and Caraga 2,206 but should be 7, 856.
BARMM, CAR and Soccksargen have only 1,997, 2,527 and 3,908 nurses, respectively. De Vera said ideally, these regions should have 11, 714, 5,138 and 13, 656 nurses.
With the lifting of the moratorium, De Vera said higher education institutions can now apply and comply with the requirements to open new undergraduate nursing programs.
Among the requirements are the following:
1. All HEIs (public and private) intending to offer BS Nursing programs shall not accept students without prior approval from CHED.
2. State Universities and Colleges and CHED-recognized Local Universities and Colleges are encouraged to apply for new BS Nursing programs to improve access in poor and deserving students.
3. Local Universities and Colleges are also encouraged to include return service agreements in their admission and retention policies to increase the number of students in their respective regions.
4. All HEIs must meet the requirements on curriculum, base hospital, nursing skills laboratory and library resources.
5. All requirements should be complied for the full 4-year program.
6. The HEIs must have a qualified Level III or Level II base hospitals, and;
7. The HEI shall set the number of incoming first year students subject to its carrying capacity based on its faculty resources, adequacy of teaching facilities available and base hospital.
De Vera said base hospitals should have adequate case loada for students, adequate facilities for teaching and learning, minimum 100-bed capacity for general services, minimum bed occupancy rate of 80 percent, and at least 60 allotted beds in government hospitals and 10 percent in private hospitals.
He said these hospitals must also be accessible and located within the region where the HEI is located.
