Gov’t to appeal US nurse ban

The government will appeal the decision of a US commission to ban some 17,000 Filipino nurses who passed the cheating-tainted 2006 nursing licensure examination from working in the United States.

The US Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) issued the temporary ban this week, insisting that Filipino nurses retake the sections of the June 2006 examination that were tainted by cheating.

President Arroyo on Friday ordered Labor Secretary Arturo Brion to appeal the decision.

In a statement released Saturday, Mrs. Arroyo said she had ordered the appeal to "uphold the prestige of the country’s nursing profession and continue the deployment of Filipino nurses abroad."

The CGFNS said in its website Thursday that "Philippine nurses who were sworn in as licensed nurses in the Philippines following their passing the compromised licensure exam of June 2006 are not eligible for a VisaScreen Certificate."

All foreign nurses must have a CGFNS-issued VisaScreen Certificate before being allowed to work in the US.

President Arroyo said the government has already provided financial assistance to the 2006 nurses who passed so they may retake the exams.

She also said all the officials of the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC), which oversees the examinations, who were found to have been involved in the scandal should be dismissed "without benefits and criminally charged."

The President’s order came amid reports that a nursing review center had leaked answers to some students who took the examinations.

The scandal rocked the country’s medical profession and cast a shadow over the quality of its nurses, who are in high demand overseas, especially in the US, Europe and the Middle East.

Some 42,000 students took the nursing examination but only 17,000 passed.

The CGFNS insisted that the passing examinees retake Test No. 3 and Test No. 5, where the answers had been leaked to some examinees.

The President said she was saddened by the imposition of a visa hold on the deployment of Filipino nurses "as a result of the cheating scandal affecting the nursing exams last year."

She has also ordered Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita to follow up all reform measures mandated by the Cabinet for the PRC to uphold the integrity of the nursing profession.

"We shall resolve this controversy once and for all and uphold the prestige and excellence of the Philippine nursing profession," Mrs. Arroyo said.

The Philadelphia-based CGFNS said it sent a fact-finding mission to the Philippines in September 2006 to investigate the reports of irregularities in the nursing licensure exam.

The CGFNS investigation concluded that "those who received their license as a result of passing the compromised June 2006 licensure examination raises (sic) significant questions about the accurate assessment of the competencies of many of those individuals."

"The integrity of the foreign licensing system ultimately affects the health and safety of patients in the US, a primary consideration of CGFNS in its role of evaluating candidates under US immigration law," the CGFNS said.

Meanwhile, a senatorial candidate from the administration ticket urged the government to seek a reconsideration of the CGFNS decision.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay said the President should "use all possible means" to convince CGFNS to reconsider its decision to impose a visa hold order on those who passed the controversial 2006 Nursing Board Exams.

"We appeal to the sense of fairness of the CGFNS, and we fervently hope that the US and other host countries would keep its doors open for our skilled nurses. Hope springs eternal. Let’s think positive and hope for the best," he added.

As Pichay issued his call, he said the Supreme Court affirmed the integrity of the exam results by ordering the retake of some 1,600 examinees, who represent less than 10 percent of the more than 17,000 nursing graduates who made the grade.

In a statement, the Team Unity candidate said it would be the "height of injustice to deprive these nurses of the opportunity to work abroad and earn decent income for their loved ones."

"This smacks of discrimination against Filipinos," he said. "We remain optimistic that the CGFNS will ultimately be convinced to reconsider its decision since the SC had upheld the integrity of the 2006 nursing licensure exam."

Pichay said the concerned government agencies should closely coordinate in making an appeal: "They should all work together and come up with a common course of action to effectively convince the CGFNS to reconsider its visa hold order decision." –With Delon Porcalla, AFP