P20 M to be released for nursing review

President Arroyo has ordered the release of P20 million to subsidize the voluntary retake of nursing licensure examinations for those who passed the tainted June 2006 examinations.

The amount will fund the review to be held in schools to be designated by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and provide assistance for those who would retake the exams.

There are 17,000 licensed nurses who passed the June 2006 examinations but not all of them are expected to retake the tests.

The special voluntary examinations will be offered in June and December, coinciding with the regular board exams.

Earlier, the United States Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) said it would only issue Visa Screen certificates to board passers of the tainted June 2006 examinations if they retake Tests 3 and 5.

Mrs. Arroyo said that the results of the retake should be reported directly by the Board of Nursing (BON) to the DOLE, "not to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to whom the regular BON examination results are reported."

She ordered the PRC and BON to provide the "fullest coordination, support and cooperation" to concerned agencies including the DOLE, amid reports of quarrels among officials of these agencies.

"The DOLE Secretary, through his representatives, shall monitor all stages of the voluntary examinations process," Mrs. Arroyo said in her executive order.

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion told reporters after a meeting with the President yesterday that application fees for the exam retake will be waived by the PRC.

"It’s full steam ahead for the retake," Brion said.

The application period for the retake will start on March 19 and end on April 4, while the subsidized review is scheduled from April 16 to June 3.

Mrs. Arroyo directed Brion to designate schools that are either recognized as "centers of excellence" in nursing by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) or those with the highest passing rates in the board exams as special review centers.

The government will pay these schools for the review. This way, the President said it "will ensure the integrity of the preparatory stage of the examination process and to provide the best review opportunities for the voluntary examinees."

At least three private review centers have been tagged as the source of the leakage of test questions in the June 2006 board exams, which tainted the results and prompted CGFNS not to issue visas for those who passed the test despite efforts of government officials to persuade CGFNS to reconsider its decision.