This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 4, Feb. 25-March 3, 2007
Gov’t Tailoring Nursing
Sector to U.S. Demands, Health Activist Says Is the government
tailor-fitting the country’s nursing sector to the demands of the U.S. market?
The secretary-general of the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD), Dr. Gene
Nisperos, has posed this question following statements by government officials
that the Arroyo administration is amenable to having the June 2006 nursing board
examination passers be subjected to a possible third retake, as requested by the
U.S.-based Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS). BY
PHILIP PARAAN Is the government tailor-fitting the
country’s nursing sector to the demands of the U.S. market? The secretary-general of the Health Alliance
for Democracy (HEAD), Dr. Gene Nisperos, has posed this question following
statements by government officials that the Arroyo administration is amenable to
having the June 2006 nursing board examination passers be subjected to a
possible third retake, as requested by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign
Nursing Schools (CGFNS), a non-profit organization that screens foreign nurse
applicants for visa certificates in the United States In an announcement posted Feb. 14 on the
CGFNS website, CGFNS chief
executive officer Barbara Nichols said that
the passers of the June 2006 nursing board examinations who intend to apply for
VisaScreen Certificates should undergo a retake equivalent of Tests 3 and
5 – the portions of the nursing board examination affected by last year’s
leakage scandal, and obtain a passing score. U.S. immigration laws
require the CGFNS to come up with decisions in cases like this. In this case,
because passers of the June 2006 Philippine nursing licensure exam were found to
have licenses that were “not comparable to a U.S. nursing license,” the Board
was required to determine that a VisaScreen Certificate may not be
issued to such individuals, Nichols said. However, they “gladly accept” the
passing test scores of any nurse “who had the courage” to re-take the licensure
exam – in whole or in part – in December 2006, Nichols added. “CGFNS raises no question of their lawful
right to practice nursing in the Philippines. U.S. immigration law, however,
requires CGFNS to make a determination as part of the VisaScreen process about
several elements of the visa applicants' education, training, license and
experience – including their comparability to U.S. nurses,” Nichols said.
“Finally, it should be noted that some stories in the Philippine media have
confused the VisaScreen Certificate – issued pursuant to U.S.
immigration law – with the CGFNS Certification Program (CP), which is provided
to facilitate the licensure of foreign-educated nurses in the majority of U.S.
States. The VisaScreen Certificate is required of all foreign-national
nurses who seek occupational visas under U.S. immigration law – regardless of
which State in the United States that they intend to practice.” The announcement explicitly noted that
applicants would not be eligible for the said visa certificates unless they
comply with the retest order. The official testing agency clarified that
this requirement for re-examination does not try to revoke any professional
license but is a matter of immigration requirement to obtain a working visa. The
CGFNS explained this requirement is part of Section 343 of the Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Labor export policy President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has
instructed Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to appeal this decision before the CGFNS.
The government right now is worried that other nurse-receiving countries might
follow suit and request a similar retake on the questioned areas of the test,
government spokespersons said. In a subsequent update posted Feb. 24 on the
CGFNS website, however, Nichols said the CGFNS decision was final, precluding
any possibility of appeal. No less than Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez
has said that the Arroyo administration is willing to have the passers of the
June 2006 nursing board examination retake the tests. This, he said, shows that
the Philippines recognizes the request of the U.S. market. “(The retake) has
nothing to do with the Philippine policy on these nurses anyway,” Gonzalez said. Nisperos has hit the Arroyo government for
giving in easily to the request for a retake of the June 2006 nursing board
examinations for prospective VisaScreen applicants. “Our government is now begging the U.S. to
allow our nurses gain entry and work in the states, instead of addressing the
mass exodus of nurses which is detrimental to our health system, and the reasons
why they leave in the first place,” he said. “This is labor export to the hilt,
mindlessly and shamelessly selling our nurses abroad and the way our government
has been scrambling to please U.S. market demands, as if our whole nursing
sector is now being tailor-fit to the need of America and no longer for our own
people’s health.” As of 2006, a nurse working in the United
Kingdom, for example, sends home at least $1,000 a month based on data provided
by Patricia Riingen, vice president of Western Union Philippines. In the U.S.,
nurses are estimated to earn around an average of US$
4,000-6,000 a month. Conversely, a nurse in the
Philippines gets some P5,500-P16,000 ($113.94-$331.46 at an exchange rate of
$1=P48.27) a month. The Philippine Nurses Association led by it
president Dr. Leah Paquiz is now trying to organize the whole nursing community
to find ways to resolve this crises, which she describes as the worst to have
ever hit the nursing profession. “The U.S. has been poaching our nurses for
decades and in droves, and a nursing education has long been seen as a ticket
out,” Nisperos said, “This is (a crisis) of commercialized nursing education. In
the end, it is compromising our own health care, which many believe is already
precariously on the brink of collapse. Contributed to Bulatlat © 2007 Bulatlat
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Contributed to Bulatlat