MANILA: Anakalusugan Party-List Representative Ray Florence Reyes on Wednesday filed a bill seeking to establish a scholarship and return service program to address the shortage of nurses in the country. “Yearly, we lose hundreds of nurses who seek greener pastures elsewhere. This mass exodus of health workers greatly affects our health system causing it to collapse. No one was addressing this, and so we crafted this measure,” Reyes said. House Bill No. 6631 or the “Nursing Scholarship and Return Service Program Act” aims to provide a “pay it forward” scholarship to deserving students in state universities and colleges
MANILA: Stakeholders expressed support the senators’ call for more roads from fish facilities to markets, pre-border inspections and in-country laboratory tests for fish imports. They also support the call for the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) to focus its efforts against smugglers and importers who are diverting fish products to the wet market in violation of existing regulations. The group made the statement after attending the public hearing of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Food and Agrarian Reform on Monday. Earlier, BFAR launched a market information drive in 21 markets in Metro Manila, in response
ILOILO CITY: The Department of Health-Western Visayas Center for Health Development (DOH-WVCHD) will use additional strategies to reach out to and diagnose over 4,000 estimated population of persons living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) in the region. As of September, the region has accounted 6,197 persons with HIV. The highest number are from Iloilo province with 1,246; Iloilo City and Negros Occidental with 1,086 each; Bacolod City has 834; Capiz, 524; Aklan, 414; Antique, 320; and Guimaras, 100, DOH WV CHD Nurse 1 Errol Dayot said in a media forum on Wednesday. “For Western Visayas, our estimated
MANILA: Travelers who are not fully vaccinated or have failed to verify their vaccination status must present a certified negative antigen test result when entering the Philippines, the Department of Health (DOH) said Wednesday. In a Viber message to reporters, the DOH said the antigen test must be taken within 24 hours before the date and the time of the travelers’ arrival to the Philippines. This is for individuals ages 15 years old and above. “Failure to do this may subject the passenger to undergo the said test upon arrival at the airport,” the agency said.
TACLOBAN CITY: At least 70 towns in Leyte and Samar provinces have been included in the World Bank-funded Philippine Multisectoral Nutrition Project that seeks to reduce the incidence of stunting. During a launch at the Madison Park Hotel here, officials signed a pledge of commitment to carry out the three-year project designed to increase the utilization of a package of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions to curb malnutrition. The project covers 235 towns nationwide with about 30 of them are in the four provinces in Eastern Visayas region, Department of Health regional director Exuperia Sabalberino said. These towns
MANILA: While expressing alarm over the reported swarming of Chinese ships off Iroquois Reef and Sabina Shoal in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the Department of National Defense (DND) maintained that it will not give up any part of the country’s territory and will continue with its regular maritime and air patrols. “The DND views with great concern the reported swarming of Chinese vessels in Iroquois Reef and Sabina Shoal in the WPS,” DND officer-in-charge Undersecretary Jose Faustino Jr. said in a statement Wednesday. He added that President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s directive to the DND is clear
