The Department of Labor and employment recently announced the deployment of 50 nurses to Ondoy-affected areas in Metro Manila such as Marikina, Pasig, Navotas, Pateros, Taguig, Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, San Juan and Pasay.

The 50 nurses were among the second batch to be given jobs under the Nurse Assigned in Rural Services (NARS) program by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and DOLE.

According to DOLE’s Metro Manila regional director Raymundo Agravante the warriors of wellness (pertaining to the nurses) will try to stem the surging rise of leptospirosis and prepare for the second wave of A(H1N1) flu virus.

Aside from giving care assistance to the victims of leptosipirosis and other diseases, nurses are asked to lectures about leptorspirosis and A(H1N1) virus to the members of community. Precations and other information about the said diseases should be imparted well to help diminish the spread of the disease.

According to DOLE secretary Marianito Roque said that nurses should work on a five-nurse team in each critically affected village. He said they are expected to render the three I’s in nursing care: initiate primary health, school nutrition, maternal health programs, and the first line of diagnosis; inform the public on community water sanitation practices and perform health surveillance; and immunize children and mothers.

Nurses under the NARS program are paid a minimum wage of Php8,000 for a period of 6 months.

The program aims to give them practical experience that will make them more employable here and abroad, as well as help the government achieve the Millennium Development Goal targets.

Jointly implemented by the department of labor and health and education, and the Professional Regulation Commission’s Board of Nursing, the program is also part of the government’s pump-priming strategy in the face job losses following the global financial meltdown.