More nurses deployed

published December 17, 2009 in BusinessWorld

TACLOBAN CITY -- Nearly 700 nurses have been deployed following the expansion of the Nurses Assigned to Rural Service (NARS) program to all towns in Eastern Visayas.

Forter G. Puguon, Department of Labor and Employment regional director, said that a total of 688 nurses were deployed under the second phase of the emergency employment program.

In the first phase last April, a total of 575 nurses were hired by the national government and deployed to 115 municipalities.

The nurses spend the first three months working in a government hospital, and the next three months in rural health units.

After their tour of duty ends in March 2010, Mr. Puguon said, they will make a recommendation on whether to make the initiative a regular government program.

"From there, we are going to assess and recommend based on the results observed in the two pilot batches," he said in an interview.

Mr. Puguon said that all municipalities have five nurses.(Sarwell Q. Meniano)