DOH Nurse Deployment Program 2021 to deploy 16,000 nurses

The Department of Health (DOH) Nurse Deployment Program (NDP) continues to hire and deploy nurses in 2021 nationwide.

NDP is one of the projects of DOH under the Human Resource for Health (HRH) deployment program which seeks to send nurses to poor communities and Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDA) in the Philippines. It aims to augment the workforce in the rural health units, birthing homes, and barangay health stations.

The program also provides employment and work experience for nurses in rural areas and underserved communities.

This 2021, the NDP is under HRH National Health Workforce Support System (NHWSS) of the DOH. The regional offices will hire a total of 16,675 nurses around the country. That is lower than 19,000 nurses hired last year.

Budget of HRH for 2021

The DOH will get a total of P287.5 billion budget for 2021 and P16.58 will go to the HRH Program. That is 66% higher than last year’s P9.95 billion (P7.5B from Personnel Services, P2.45 MOOE) allocation. But last year, HRH Program got additional PhP 9.33B PS from the Miscellaneous Personnel Benefit Fund (MPBF) for a total of P19.28 billion.

The lower total budget for this year and the higher basic salary of HRH due to the implementation of 2nd Tranche of Salary Standardization Law (SSL) V would mean a reduction of slots for HRH workers in 2021.

Aside from over 16,000 nurses under the Nurse Deployment Program 2021, DOH will also hire 744 Doctors, 4,538 Midwives, 222 Dentists, 303 Pharmacists, 200 Nutritionist Dietitians, 601 Medical Technologists, and 81 Physical Therapists.

Salary and Benefits of Nurse Deployment Program 2021

Those who will be hired as NDP will be assigned as Nurse I under Personnel Services (PS) with Salary Grade 15 pay. They received P32,053 basic monthly salary last year under the first tranche of SSL V. It will be P33,575 this 2021 with the implementation of the second tranche of SSL V.

Aside from basic pay, NDP also gets Magna Carta Benefits (PERA, subsistence, laundry and hazard pay), and employers share. For the end of the year, NDP and other HRH under PS also get one-time grants of Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) benefit of Php 1,800, Service Recognition Incentive (SRI) of Php 6,900, and Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) of Php 5,000.

Many nurses would really like to be hired as NDP with this very good compensation package. But the caveat is, payments are delayed sometimes up to 3 months.

Hiring of NDP and other HRH cadres

DOH Central Office provides the approved number of slots to be filled. Regional Offices and Provincial Health Offices handles the selection and recruitment of qualified nurses for Nurse Deployment Program.

Since there will be a reduction of slots for 2021, most nurses currently under the program will just be rehired or renewed. New hiring will only be done if there are slots available due to the resignation.

So if you want to join the NDP 2021, contact your Regional Offices if there are still vacancies. Those who are hired/renewed will start their duty first working day of January until December 31, 2021.

Nurses as PHAs

There are also nurses previously deployed as Public Health Associates (PHA) under the HRH program. One regional office said there is no more Nurse II-PHA because there’s no budget in the General Appropriation Act (GAA, the national budget) for it.

DOH Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU) is looking into the possibility of absorbing PHAs of 2020 into the new position of Health Program Officer (HPO). They will be given Salary Grade 11 pay under the Contract of Service (COS) arrangement.

One HPO per municipality/city per 50,000 population is needed. HPO’s tasks involve disease surveillance and Field Health Services Information System (FHSIS).

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