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The Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) has raised the concern that
our country may be producing more nurses than can be employed
locally and abroad. Its president, Dr. Leah Samaco-Paquiz, said that
because of this trend, nursing has ceased to be a lucrative
profession. The notion that being a nurse is a “passport to
greener pastures” abroad is, according to her, a serious mistake.
In effect, the PNA wants to restrain the growth
of the ever-increasing enrolment in nursing schools since the demand
for foreign nurses in the US , the United Kingdom and other
countries has declined in the past two years.
PNA figures show that in 2005, close to 296,000
graduated as nurses. The number of graduates in 2006 rose to 397,195
and increased again last year, based on the enrolment of 426,619
nursing students.
The PNA claims there is a glut of nurses in the
country to such a degree that thousands have remained idle because
they cannot be employed in local hospitals and overseas.
News of a slowdown in the hiring of foreign
nurses in the US and other western countries could dampen the
enthusiasm of students enrolled and seeking to enroll in nursing
schools.
This view must be reexamined. Government and
institutions like the PNA must not do anything to abridge the
students’ right to choose their career in their desire for a
better life. Aside from a high salary, many Filipino nurses seek
employment in the US to have the chance to become immigrants or
naturalized US citizens who can at the same time retain Philippine
citizenship under our dual citizenship law.
The PNA may be right that nurses’ deployment
abroad has declined because of a looming recession in the US and
other western nations, which have adopted stricter immigration
policies.
It fails, however, to consider the gravity of
the nursing shortage in those countries. In the US alone, the
shortage could reach 500,000 by the next few years. Britain may be
hit by an acute undersupply of nurses starting next year. The
adverse effects of the shortage on their health care delivery
programs compel their governments to employ foreign nurses as a
substantial part of their nursing workforce.
The US has aging nurses in the workforce and it
will not take long before they leave work. Their retirement will
require the recruitment of foreign nurses to take over their slots.
In recent years, there was a “sudden burst” of younger American
women taking up nursing, but it is unlikely that they will be able
to solve the long-running nursing shortage in their country.
Barbara Nichols, head of the Commission on
Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS), which is tasked with
screening foreign nurses who want to work in the US, notes that the
hiring of foreign nurses in the US will continue to grow. She notes
the increasing number of applicants for the CGFNS visa screen
program.
The need for foreign nurses in the US has been
recognized for more than a decade. The US government is deeply
concerned over the failure of countries deploying nurses to America
to meet the demand for good, highly qualified nurses.
The mandate and responsibility of the PNA, the
Commission on Higher education and the country’s nursing schools
is to see to it that US-bound Filipino nurses are of the highest
quality.
Nursing will remain a good and rewarding career.
Students taking up nursing should not be deterred by the reported
slowdown in nurses’ deployment abroad. Foreign nurses will always
be in demand in the US and other rich countries. The employment of
highly qualified Filipino nurses for good pay is guaranteed by the
interplay of market forces: The demand for foreign nurses being far
greater than the supply.
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