CPD Law Now Pushed in Senate and Will Take Effect 15 Days After Approval
The most awaited news for nurses is finally here. An act repealing the CPD Law was pushed in the Senate.
Senate Bill No. 2073 known as an “Act Repealing Republic Act No. 10912,Otherwise Known as the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Act of 2016,” has been filed in the Senate courtesy of Sen. Ralph Recto.
The passage of the law will repeal all other laws, executive orders, resolutions, rules and regulations and other issuances pertaining to RA 10912. The act, once approved, shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.
Low pay has always been an issue or let’s say a fixed fact in the nursing industry which even got worse the time when CPD Law finally took effect. Since then, nurses have to find ways on budgeting their meager salary even tighter to attend seminars and training that don’t always come cheap. The minimum cost of an 8-unit CPD training or seminar is P1500 which is not even close to a third of the 45 units CPD requirement for every 3 years of license renewal. If you are going to calculate that, the cost is greater than a nurse’ bimonthly salary pay. Thus, the CPD Law was only deemed to make the process costly, more bureaucratic, and unnecessarily regulative.
Not surprisingly, the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has received numerous complaints regarding the operational guidelines of the CPD Act. A poll conducted by the PRC in February 2018 reveal that 95,950 out of 101,000 or 9 out 10 Facebook users who participated in the survey agreed to abolish the CPD Act.
Although CPD Law would soon be abolished, this doesn’t take away its importance in the life of every nurse and for the rest of the professionals out there. This is just a mind opener to health institutions and establishments that it should be in their best interests to support CPD. Some of the larger health services do run a comprehensive program of CPD for staff members, thus, it is advisable to speak to your employer about whether inhouse CPD is provided.
