The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) lifted the moratorium on the opening of new nursing programs in the Philippines.
CHED Chairperson Prospero De Vera III said on Wednesday, July 13, that the en banc made the decision to lift the moratorium 'based on an exhaustive discussion'.
De Vera said that there have been calls to lift the moratorium during the height of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic 'because of the perceived lack of nurses'.
"This moratorium, which was imposed in 2011, has been reviewed at the height of the pandemic," De Vera said during a virtual press briefing.
"The lack of health personnel was seen as a critical issue during the height of COVID, both in terms of ensuring hospital care as well as ensuring the vaccination of Filipinos," he added.
De Vera presented data from the Department of Health (DOH) that shows that the Philippines only has a total of 90,205 nurses across the country.
The data also shows that the Philippines needs to fill a total of 201,625 vacant job positions for nurses in order to meet the ideal number of 300,470 nurses based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
"There is really a big gap in the supply side. The demand side, you know, requires more nurses than what we have," De Vera said.
De Vera plans to create panels in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in order to fast-track the evaluation of applications submitted by higher education institutions (HEIs) for new nursing programs
The CHED official said that HEIs can submit an application to open a nursing program starting Thursday, July 14.
