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Our
hearts goes out to the 17,000 nurses Batch 2006 who have had
an emotional roller coaster the last eight months or so.
Only
40% passed that June 2006 Nursing Test, marred by leakage
of Test 3 (Medical and Surgical Nursing) and Test 5 (neuro-phychiatric)
- and a shattered integrity of the professional examinations
held in the country.
Two
schools of thought waged a tug-of war contests the Supreme
Court, the Philippine Regulatory Commission and the (ANN)
Alliance of new Nurses against a "test retake" and
the Court of Appeals and the Philippine Nurses Association
for a "partial retake."
The
principled drift against the "retake" was to preclude
"rewarding the guilty by punishing a whole batch of innocents."
Or words to that effect.
The
toll before the storm, however, was shattered when the privately-owned
organization in the USA that screens foreign applicants for
medical practitioners called CFGNS (Commission on Graduates
of Foreign Nursing Schools) announced recently that they will
not issue Visa Screen Certificates to the Nurses Batch 2006
tainted by the leakages of test material - unless they retake
Tests 3 and 5.
Philippine
doctors, nurses and therapists are among the most "well-loved:
practitioners" in the world due to their gifts of empathy
and industry, typical of the warmer Asian personality compared
to the Westerner. Unfortunately, this is not a sovereign issue
that can be settled between two governments (RP and the USA)
since CFGNS is a private entity.
The
best RP Government is trying to do is to subsidize the "retake"
of the two controversial Tests 3 and 5 - such that it will
cost nothing for the 17,000 graduates to do the same. Of course,
it would be voluntary on the part of the nurse-applicants.
They
have other options left. For one, countries like Libya, the
Middle East nations, the UK and Australia where there is huge
demand for nurses do not demand a CFGNS stamp of approval.
So do 20 other states in America including the famous New
York, Texas, Florida and California.
Many
Asian health workers reside in relatively affordable New Jersey
and work in world-class hospitals and clinics in New York;
Texas beckons with low standard of living and good opportunities
to own houses and real estate. Florida and California, may
be a little expensive but California is home of thousands
of Filipinos and Florida a scenic place to dwell. They can
also stay in the Philippines and do a great service to the
nation - suffering from this sad Diaspora of medical talents.
CFGNS,
on the other hand, cannot be blamed for its rather harsh stand
on the Nurses Batch. They could be lynched by the American
public if they did not require the retake since that could
indirectly endanger the welfare of the American public. The
public health and patient's welfare are primordial in the
mind of the body.
Medical
and surgical Nursing (test 3) could involve delicate operations
that can threaten the life of the patient in America. What
if the nurse in attendance is a Filipino who passed the test
on the sly and knew next to nothing about surgery because
he passed that exam by using the leakage?
How
adept would a nurse or nurse-aide be if that Filipino nurse
is made to administer to a crackpot who behaves like Jack
Nicholson in his many crazed-movies if he did not truly pass
the basic knowledge attendant to neuro-psychiatrics (test
5)?
The
tragedy of the June 2006 Nurses Test is a stigma that is unfair
for those who are performing excellently as Filipina nurses
abroad and unduly harasses the thousands of nursing graduates
who did not partake of the apple of the Garden of Eden in
passing the examinations.
One
can take the risk and become TNT (tago ng tago) in the USA
- do odd jobs secretly and take the CFGNS-accredited nursing
exams there and pass it - thus not even taking the mandated
retake tests in the Philippines. But that's their call.
To
our mind, if Government subsidizes the retake of Tests 3 and
5 (which it should, if they care about the amount of OFW remittances
of US$ 12-Billion), then the Batch 2006 should look at this
as an "opportunity" to redeem the injustice done
to their persons and integrity - by taking and then passing
the Exams.
There
are no two ways about it - the man who holds the purse calls
the shots. In this case, the CFGNS has required that before
being eligible for employment in the Land of Plenty in the
United States. No matter what the rules, the employer is always
right.
A
firm can even require a ridiculous requisite for men not having
a kind of haircut that touches the ear as a requirement for
employment and no applicant can complain.
America
is a free country - and the applicant is not forced to get
work there.
The
honest passers of Batch 2006 should have no hesitation in
retaking the exams - after all, they hurdled a whole batch
of tests in one take back in June 2006. Taking merely two
tests they already passed before - should therefore be a piece
of cake.
Of course, there are those who hate calories.
Yet,
this is still a free country as well.
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