DN

100 more nurses to be deployed under NARS project

Manila (24 August) -- Another 100 unemployed registered nurses in the country can now look forward to be a part of the government’s Nurses Assigned in Rural Service (NARS) project.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Marianito Roque and GlaxoSmithKline Foundation (GSKF) President Roberto Taboada that calls for the GSKF to provide nurses with an P8,000 stipend each to 20 poor municipalities.

Commissioner Ruth Padilla of the Professional Regulatory Commission and Oscar Aragon president of Pharmaceutical and HealthCare Association of the Philippines Cares Foundation (PHAPCARES) also signed the memorandum.

Roque said that the latest GSKF support follows the earlier commitment to the Project NARS forged by PHAP Cares Foundation which assured the deployment of a similar number of nurses in an accord inked last May 21.

The first batch of 5,000 nurse-trainees with a six-month tour of duty under Project NARS had been successfully deployed to the 1,000 poorest municipalities for a six month tour of duty beginning last April according to a DOLE press report.

Launched by President Arroyo in February this year, Project NARS aims to mobilize nurses as "warriors for wellness" in poor municipalities to initiate primary health, school nutrition, maternal health programs and first hand line diagnosis.

They are also tasked to inform about community water sanitation practices and do health surveillance, immunize children and mothers and act as roving nurses for rural schools.(PIA)

SOURCE: http://www.pia.gov.ph