PBBM paves the way for nursing underboard graduates to work as clinical care associates – Presidential Communications Office

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. underscored the importance of “overcoming the handicaps” of the healthcare system in the Philippines by allowing nursing underboard graduates to work as clinical care associates.

The President made the pitch during the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Thursday for the launch of the Clinical Care Associates (CCA) Upskilling Program, designed to create a pool of licensed nurses and to address the shortage of nurses in the country.

“And as a very simple explanation, it allows…those nursing graduates who have taken their boards and have not been able to pass the board this time will be allowed to work nonetheless if they can establish their competencies in certain subjects of the nursing curriculum. And that way, they can get to work immediately,” the President said. In his speech, President Marcos stressed the need to meet the demands of the medical professionals, who played pivotal roles in the development of the country’s healthcare system attainable through the CCA Upskilling Program, which was formalized through Joint Administrative Order (JAO) No. 2023-0001 and the signed MOU.

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the Department of Health (DOH) issued JAO No. 2023-0001 on July 19, 2023, as part of the efforts of the Marcos administration to address the shortage of healthcare practitioners in the Philippines.

It was issued pursuant to the recommendation of the Private Sector Advisory Council-Healthcare Sector Group (PSAC-HSG) to provide underboard nursing graduates a path to employment as CCAs in hospitals while capacitating them to pass the licensure examinations for nursing.

In his speech shortly after the signing of the MOU, President Marcos branded the program as “a groundbreaking endeavor.”

“So, aside from the boost that it will give to the quality of our healthcare professional services, it will also reaffirm the unified efforts of our agencies, hospitals, and higher education institutions to prepare our nursing graduates for their board exams and their chosen career paths,” the President added. Under the MOU, public and private hospitals agreed to hire underboard nursing graduates as CCAs for