RN Heals Program deploys almost 1,500 nurses to poor towns in C. Visayas
By Fayette C. Riñen
CEBU CITY, December 13 (PIA) -- Almost 1,500 nurses were deployed to poor municipalities throughout Central Visayas this year, to provide healthcare services to unserved or underserved communities for one year in the continuing RN Heals Program.
Dr. Lakshmi Legaspi, assistant regional director of the Department of Health (DOH) 7 said the nurses were deployed in two batches.
“In February, we deployed 688 nurses all over the region and another 788 nurses were deployed last month. A total of 1,476 nurses were deployed for this year alone,” Legaspi said.
Cebu got more than 300 nurses in the first batch due to its large population which needed more manpower augmentation in providing basic health care services in rural communities, Legaspi said.
For the second batch, 520 out of the 788 nurses are placed in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), a government-manned tertiary hospital under the DOH based in Cebu City, Legaspi disclosed.
The VSMMC accommodates indigent patients from various provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The Registered Nurses for Health Enhancement and Local Service or RN Heals is a program designed to provide jobs to nurses and deploys them to poor communities to make essential health services accessible to all particularly the poor.
RN Heals also provides a venue for nurses to practice their profession and hone their skills and at the same time provide basic health services to poor rural communities as well as augment manpower services in public hospitals and rural health units, this is learned.
Under the program, midwives and doctors are also deployed to the rural communities as part of making health care services accessible to all.
“We have distributed 62 midwives to the different towns and cities in the region,“ Legaspi said.
“In areas where there are no municipal health doctors, we have deployed physicians under the same program called ‘Doctors to the Barrios,” Legapsi further added. (PIA-Cebu)
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Cebu City LGU, Ombudsman-Visayas sign MOA to fight corruption
by Amor Saludar
CEBU CITY December 13 (PIA) – The signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA) recently, between the Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas and the Cebu City Government sealed its joint forces in the battle against graft and corruption.
Deputy Ombudsman for the Visayas Pelagio Apostol and Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama signed the MOA, aimed at taking actions and installing measures in fighting corruption within their respective jurisdictions.
The move is also a step and a call to other sectors in making the Philippines a zero-corrupt country, this is said.
The two leaders urged all government officials and the public to be involved and be united in the campaign against corruption as well as enforce laws geared towards anti-corruption.
Apostol cited unity as the most important element in winning the battle against corruption and added that the “surest way to victory is to have a united front against corruption.”
“We failed in our campaign against corruption because we are not united in our efforts. Some others are not sincere in the implementation of the rules against anti-corruption,” Apostol said.
He added that all the stakeholders and the public should do their share and no one should be left behind in the combined efforts of eliminating the practice of corruption.
In response, Rama pledged his commitment to lead Cebu City in the combat against corruption as part of his calling as a public leader.
“This is a calling and let us honor our commitments,” Rama concluded. (FCR/AS/PIA-CEBU)