Tacloban City (19 March) --- Over 500 registered nurses, including those who recently passed licensure tests, would land a job in Eastern Visayas under the national government's Project Nurses Assigned in Rural Service (Nars).

Project Nars is designed to mobilize 10,000 unemployed registered nurses as "warriors for wellness" to 1,000 of the poorest towns in the country to improve the delivery of health care services for six months, according to Department of Health (DOH) assistant regional director Dr. Minerva Molon.

The nurses will initiate primary health, school nutrition, and maternal health programs; first line diagnosis; inform communities about water sanitation practices and also do health surveillance; and immunize children and mothers.

They will also serve as roving nurses for rural schools, Molon said Wednesday.

The nurses will be paid P8,000 monthly. Through their exposure to rural health service, the nurses could gain enough experience in handling clinical and public health concerns that will increase their employability, Molon said.

The training-employment project is jointly implemented by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the DOH and the Professional Regulation Commission Board of Nursing (PRC-BON), Molon said.

Launched on Feb. 9, 2009, the Nars Project is part of pump-priming strategies under the President's economic resiliency plan to mitigate the impact of the global financial crisis.

Under the program, 575 nurses would be assigned to 115 poor towns in Eastern Visayas for six months, with each municipality getting five nurses, Molon said.

Several of these towns do not have their own nurses, noted Molon.

Priority would be given to applicants coming from families with members who lost jobs because of the global financial crisis, Molon said.

The first batch will start working in April until September while the second batch will work from October 2009 to March 2010.

Leyte will get 180 nurses for 36 towns while Samar will have 130 nurses for 26 towns under the project.

The other provinces in the Eastern Visayas will also get their allocation – Northern Samar, 110 nurses for 22 towns; Eastern Samar, 65 nurses for 13 towns; Southern Leyte, 50 nurses for 10 towns; and Biliran, 40 nurses for 8 towns.