Aangat Tayo partylist Rep. Neil Abayon recently issued a press release warning of the potential for more measles outbreaks at public schools. He believes the Department of Education (DepEd) is not hiring enough school nurses to ensure such diseases are prevented.

Earlier this week, the Department of Health (DOH) declared measles outbreaks in Metro Manila and Central Luzon.

The congressman, who is also a registered nurse, said undernourished and malnourished students are the most at-risk.

“Among the most vulnerable to measles in DepEd public schools are the at least two million children nationwide who are of wasted or severely wasted nutritional status,” he explained. “2,000 nurses is certainly not enough to attend to the health and nutrition of our more or less 27.7 million school children and teenagers.”

“The 2,000 public school nurses are not assigned by school but by city and province, across the various DepEd school division offices,” Abayon added. “For the current measles outbreak in Metro Manila and other regions in Luzon, and the Central and Eastern Visayas, those 2,000 nurses can be strategically deployed to the localities where the incidence of measles is high.”

Last July, the Iloilo City Health Office, in partnership with the DOH, DepEd, and Department of the Interior and Local Government, launched school health service programs at Iloilo City National High School and Molo I Elementary School.

Among the services provided included iron supplements, deworming, and vaccinations for measles/tetanus diphtheria and the human papillomavirus.

In addition, the Iloilo City government, alongside DOH-Region VI, also conducted door-to-door immunizations around the city, treating children between six months and 59 months with immunizations for measles-rubella and polio.

The legislator currently has a bill pending before the House of Representatives, HB 7874, which seeks to establish a School Health and Safety Office in every public school across the country.

The bill mandates every school must hire at least one nurse.

“Passage of this law would mean at least 52,156 new jobs for nurses at our public schools,” Abayon noted.

He also pointed out, “Primary responsibility for the school canteen, school nutrition program, immunization campaigns, campus security, and many other related non-teaching roles and functions will be vested upon the School Health and Safety Office.”/WDJ