Bernadas made the assurance after DOH Officer-in-Charge Maria Rosario Vergeire said the country is currently facing a shortage of healthcare workers.
Bernadas said Central Visayas has no shortage of healthcare workers, particularly in public hospitals.
He said that understaffing of healthcare personnel was felt by private hospitals during the surge of Covid-19 cases.
He, however, clarified that it was not because of the lack of medical staff, specifically nurses, but because the private hospitals didn’t hire additional nurses.
“There is no actual lack of availability. The private hospitals lack nurses because of the surges of patients during the pandemic. It is not that there is a lack of available nurses. It’s just that they don’t hire more,” said Bernadas in Cebuano.
Bernadas added, most medical graduates opted to apply to government-owned hospitals for a better salary.
Vergeire earlier said the country is currently facing a shortage of healthcare workers.
Vergeire said there is a shortage or gap of 106,000 nurses needed to man health facilities all over the country, both public and private, stressing it could be because of the continued migration of medical professionals.
The DOH official also said there is also a shortage of doctors, pharmacists, radiologic technologists, medical technicians, occupational therapists, midwives, physical therapists, and dentists.
She added that in DOH hospitals alone, there is a need for 624 nurses, 1,332 midwives, and 63 dentists, all of which are plantilla government positions.