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
Contributed to Bulatlat
Nurses and a
doctor treat a patient at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila
AFP PHOTO |
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
BACK TO
TOP ■
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION ■
COMMENT
© 2007 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications
Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided
its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.