The 22,500 nurses who have successfully undergone RN Heals 4 selection and recruitment process will be deployed after orientation in this month of January in various part of the country.

According to Department of Health (DOH) secretary, Enrique Ona, “This Project aims to improve access of the country’s poor to quality healthcare with social services by creating a pool of registered nurses with enhanced clinical and preventive health management competencies that will eventually increase the nurses’ employability.”

He clearly clarified that the project, RN Heals is not a form of employment rather a medium for learning and development in government health facilities where potential for future employment is highest. Therefore, RN Heals Batches cannot be called as regular employees but pre-service trainees with allowances or stipend and not salaries.

RN Heals 4 starts this January for the orientation followed by deployment to:
70 DOH Hospitals; 1,491 municipalities; 143 cities; 13 districts of Metro Manila following priority areas of DOH’s:
Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP)
conditional cash transfer areas (CCT) areas of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the
609 priority areas of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC)

An P8,000 monthly allowance or stipend coming from the national government for nurses assigned whether in hospital or health center. Additional monetary or non-monetary incentives are encouraged such as: advanced training opportunities, meals or meal allowance, transportation or transportation allowance, communication allowance, modest board and lodging whenever necessary.

RN Heals 4 also becomes part of Philhealth iGroup Insurance with a premium of P1,200.00 per person per year and GSIS Group Accident Insurance premium of P 500.00 per person per year covering the following: Accidental Death/Dismemberment of P500,000.00 per person; Medical Reimbursement of P50,000.00 per person; and Bereavement Assistance of P10,000.00. After the satisfactory completion of their learning and deployment, the nurses are given a Certificate of Completion.

The same from the previous batches, fund sources have been sub-allotted to the DOH Centers for Health Development and Hospitals to facilitate processing and payment of their monthly allowance. For ARMM, funds have been transferred to the DOH-ARMM for efficiency.

For the record, RN heals Project has completed three (3) batches from 14 February 2011 to December 2012. RN Heals 1 in February 2011 was composed of 9,518 nurses deployed in health facilities in 1,235 municipalities and cities while 11, 283 nurses from RN Heals 2 (October 2011) sent to 70 DOH hospitals 1,500 municipalities and cities; and RN Heals 3 nurses (10,000) deployed to 1,491 municipalities and 143 cities in March 2012.