The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) continue to address the problem of unemployment among nursing graduates in the country by offering different solutions. Their most recent proposal is to encourage nurses to become entrepreneurs.

In the light of the oversupply of nurses in the country, the Labor Department said that nurses should consider starting a business by setting up clinics and small pharmacies.

The secretary of Labor, Rosalinda Baldoz said, “Our vision for our unemployed nurses is not only for them to have productive wage employment. Operating and managing their own nursing clinics also offers sustainable income."

According to Baldoz, hiring of foreign nurses in popular overseas destinations as United States of America (USA) and United Kingdom (UK) is now limited due to the global financial crisis.

In the CARAGA region, the Labor Director Ofelia Domingo, are proud to say that 25 nurses from Surigao del Norte decided to set up their own “entreprenurse" clinics. The said nurses were part of the DOLE’s program, Nurses Assigned in Rural Service (NARS) for six months. The NARS program also equipped participants with entrepreneurial skills.

The DOLE provides financial assistance to the said nurses so they can successfully set up their own businesses. The fund assistance from DOLE amounted to P1.068 million. Of this amount, P850,000 was allotted for equipment and clinic fixtures while the P217,000 serves as their equity to be sourced from the members.

The clinics are now operational and provide the following services: laboratory procedures such as complete blood count, fasting blood sugar, random blood sugar, urinalysis, stool exam and sputum exam; private duty nursing; parenteral medication; IVF insertion; ATS/tetanus toxoid injection; nebulization; wound cleaning and dressing; catheterization; oxygen administration; foot and palm reflex; and thermal therapy. Badoz added that the nurses also plan to set up a mini-pharmacy.