Filipino nurses leaving Philippines for better opportunities in the US

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/257667/1/.html


Filipino nurses leaving Philippines for better opportunities in the US
By Christine Ong, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 09 February 2007 2306 hrs


More and more Filipino nurses are leaving the Philippines for better opportunities in the United States.

This exodus is causing a shortage of nurses in the country.

Doctor Juanito La Rosa is frustrated: another nurse has informed him that she will be leaving for the United States by the end of the month.

Dr Juanito La Rosa, President, Las Pinas City Medical Center, said: "On the average they leave the hospital after three or four months of staying here. The most common answer is this: look doctor, in America, after one month of working there, we already have a brand new car. You cannot buy that here. But if we raise their salaries, it will increase the overhead of the hospital. We are only a poor country."

And so Dr La Rosa has to contend with seeing the hospital's best nurses go.

Raul Cardenas is among the 15,000 Filipinos who took the US National Council Licensure Examination, or NCLEX, last year.

That's an overwhelming 65 percent increase over those who took it in 2005.

His US$150 monthly salary is just no match to the US$4,000 a month that he will be receiving in Virginia.

He said: "The work load here is heavy. In the US, they only handle a maximum of 5 patients per shift. While here, we handle as many as 12 patients in a shift. So the work load is hard and then the compensation is low. What I earn here for a year, I can get there in just a month."

The US is going one step further to woo Filipino nurses.

High-school graduates who cannot afford to take up a four-year nursing course, can now take a 15-month licensed practical nurse programme and apply for the US licensure exams.

Gregory Tyrone Howard, President, National Federation of Licensed Practical Nurses of America, said: "There is a need for licensed practical nurses in the US and this is an untapped resource by the Philippines. One of the problems is that your government does not recognise that level of nursing."

With the planned opening of the first practical nursing school in the Philippines and in Asia, Mr Howard is urging the government to also recognise licensed practical nursing in the Philippines.

Proponents of the licensed practical nursing curriculum believe that not only will they be able to increase the chances of Filipino nurses going to the US, they also hope to address the issue of brain drain in the country.

Mr Howard said: "Those nurses who start in registered nurses school, who do not complete after two years, what happened to them? They leave school with absolutely nothing and they lost money, they lost time, and they have nothing to show for."

But in the end, unless these Filipino nurses are given better salaries, they will still choose to leave the country. - CNA/ch