Radzini Oledan, Sun.Star, June 29, 2007 Health is a fundamental right, and delivery of health care is dependent on the availability of a qualified health force. Steadily, the country has supplied the health manpower needs of developed nations while facing a severe crisis in the homefront. Worldwide demand for health workers will continue to grow until the next decade. Philippines is the number one exporter of nurses to the world and the second major exporters of doctors. This has seriously undermined the nation's capability to provide health services to its people. More and more doctors are leaving the country as nurses, and some hospitals especially in provinces were forced to stop due to lack of qualified health workers. ... Severe

Manila Times, March 14, 2007 Dr. Dante Ang, chairman of the Commission on the Filipino Overseas, on Tuesday appealed to nursing institutions in the Philippines not to challenge the decision of the American Nursing Association urging the June 2006 nurses to retake the entire licensure exam and not just portions of it. He warned that ANA is a very powerful lobby group in the United States with a membership of 2.9 million (sic) and vast resources. He said although ANA is not empowered to craft laws involving nursing profession, the association wields considerable influence among US legislators. Ang said that in order not to complicate the issue of whether to retake just Tests 3 and 5 of the board exam or the entire test government officials must handle the matter diplomatically. ... Let

KMU, February 27, 2007 The decision of the CGFNS to disallow visa application for June 2006 Nursing Board Exam can only be blamed squarely on the government’s tolerance on the masterminds of the test leakage. There was indeed no closure, only cover-up.” This was the reaction of Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog on the ongoing problems the nurses are facing as the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS), a US government agency handling the entry of foreign nurses, declared a ban for nurses who took the June 2006 exams. “Despite the public outrage about the leakage, no one was made accountable and everything was just swept under the rug. The R.A.Gapuz Review Center which according to witnesses was in the center of the leakage was not investigated, along with the rest of the 19 individuals who were implicated as culprits of the leakage,” said Labog. ... Filipino

Asian Journal, February 19, 2007 Manila - The top official of the Philippine Nursing Association (PNA) has called on all Filipino nurses and their organizations to unite in facing the crisis resulting from a United States board decision not to clear June 2006 Filipino nursing license passers for US visas. "We want to hurdle it as one nursing profession," Dr. Leah Paquiz, PNA president, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview on Sunday. Paquiz was referring to the decision announced last week by the US-based Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) to deny VisaScreen Certificates to the passers of the controversial June 2006 board exams. ... Nurses

Radio New Zealand International, February 9, 2007
Officials from American Samoa’s LBJ hospital are going to the Philippines in a bid to recruit nurses to alleviate a chronic nursing shortage at the hospital. The chairman of the hospital board, Charles Warren, says the shortage means many nurses are required to work very long shifts on a continuous basis. He says the same shortage exists in the United States so many hospitals are recruiting in places like India and the Philippines which are seen as sources of well trained nurses. The LBJ CEO Kirk Gray and the director of nursing, Toaga Seumalo, will head the privately paid trip to Manila. © RNZI 2004

Rizalene P. Acac, Global Nation, January 24, 2007 Davao City - Advocates of the licensed practical nurses or LPNs in the city are pushing for the accreditation of their course and its inclusion in the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002. Arturo Lacuesta, founder and chair of the Philippine Paramedical and Technical School (PPTS), said they were lobbying before the city government and other government agencies such as Department of Trade and Industry and the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority to recognize the profession in the medical field. Lacuesta said his school had been producing practical but graduates were not allowed to practice here, although they were in demand in the United States. ... Licensed

Ministry tells firms not to undercut as in other professions. Japan Times, January 18, 2007 A draft government guideline for employers hiring nurses and caregivers from the Philippines says they should be paid the same as their Japanese colleagues, according to labor ministry officials. Japan is to accept up to 400 nurses and 600 caregivers from the Philippines between fiscal 2007 and 2008 under a free-trade agreement signed in September. The guideline drafted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is aimed at preventing the Filipinos from having to work under unfair labor conditions, officials said. ... Fair

Ernesto Herrera, ABS CBN News, January 15, 2007 Filipino nurses can look forward to greater overseas employment opportunities in the months ahead with the recent affirmation of a new agreement liberalizing the trade in professional nursing services within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Our nurses can now count on easier access to the lucrative job markets of Asean members since the Mutual Recognition Agreement on Nursing Services has been affirmed in the 12th Asean Summit and would soon be implemented by member-countries. ... More

Manila Times Editorial, January 9, 2007 It is very good news that Filipino nurses have started working in Japan. There are only 15 Filipinos working in Tokyo but their entry in the hermetically sealed labor market is a breakthrough. Consider it a foot in the door, and the door shall surely open wider. Japan has been a tough market to crack for Filipino professionals because of stringent immigration laws. But behind the stern immigration policy is a culture of xenophobia that eyes foreigners with suspicion and that seek to protect Japanese identity and culture. ... Our

Adam Geller, Associated Press, January 6, 2007 New York - The hospital lobby is a blur of surgical scrubs as a shift-change approaches. But when Elmer Jacinto slips in early in pressed whites and sneakers, he draws barely a glance from the guard behind the security desk. It's 2:15 PM and soon he'll begin preparing IV drips and checking temperatures, tasks assigned to an entry-level nurse. "So much to learn," says the self-deprecating bachelor with the lilting accent. Except for the fact that he's one of only two male nurses on the floor at St. Vincent's Midtown Hospital, he's just one of the girls, co-workers say. Well, here anyway. ... Filipino

Balita, December 30, 2006 The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) described as "counterproductive and highly regressive" the proposed new legislation that seeks to require nurses who obtained government-subsidized schooling to render two years of compulsory domestic service before they can leave for overseas employment. "We regard the bill as prejudicial and totally unnecessary, considering the massive oversupply of nurses locally," former senator and TUCP secretary-general Ernesto Herrera said. ... Labor

Sheila Crisostomo, Manila Star, December 12, 2006 Manila - A group of Filipino nurses in the US expressed apprehension over the chances of the nurses who passed the controversial June licensure examination to get jobs in American hospitals. Rosario May Mayor, president of the Philippine Nursing Association of America (PNAA), said reports of cheating in the board examination might jeopardize the chances of the June batch for employment in the US. "The possibility of a blanket denial during visa screening is there," Mayor said. The visa screen certification is issued by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) to nurses as part of the requirement of the US Homeland Security program. ... US

Joyce Pangco Pañares, Manila Standard Today, December 11, 2006 Filipino nurses and caregivers may only start working in Japan in 2010 as they must first finish a three-year language course and technical training and pass Tokyo’s licensure exam for medical practitioners, an official said yesterday. Hiroshige Seko, special adviser to visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, said only 1,000 slots had been given to Filipino nurses and caregivers under the recently signed but yet to be ratified Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement. ... Japan

Sun.Star, December 3, 2006 Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has expressed apprehension that the promise of jobs for Filipino nurses and caregivers in Japanese hospitals and other health institutions “may turn out to be an illusion” in view of the stringent requirements for the hiring of foreign medical professionals and the vigorous objection to their entry by the Japanese Nursing Association (JNA). In exchange for the liberalized entry of Japanese goods into the Philippines, including industrial waste under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa), Tokyo has allowed Japanese hospitals to recruit Filipino nurses and caregivers but not more than 400 during the initial year of implementation of the accord. ... Obstacles

Edson C. Tandoc Jr., Manila Inquirer, December 2, 2006 The exodus of nurses and doctors looking for better-paying jobs abroad may be endangering the health of Filipino children. According to Dr. Jaime Galvez Tan of the Health Futures Foundation, since 2004, 75 of 79 provinces have been losing their nurses, 77 provinces their midwives, and 61 provinces have reported a shortage of doctors. The large migration of health workers from rural to urban areas and abroad has manifested itself in the decline in basic health services for children, the former health secretary said. “This is unfortunate as children need expert care in the first few weeks and months of existence to ensure their proper growth,” he said. ... Filipino