FOR nursing graduate Maricris Anting, 25, the nursing profession is her ticket out of poverty. “It is through nursing that I can bring my family out of the hard life that we are experiencing,” she said.

Anting, who hails from Dumaguete City, said that after she gains her nursing license, she hopes to work in a hospital near her home and gain enough experience so she can apply for work abroad.

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She was among the more than 9,000 exam-takers from all over Region 7 when the two-day nursing licensure examinations started yesterday.

Rising

Nursing graduates from different colleges and universities of Central Visayas are in Cebu to take the examinations, which are held in the University of Cebu (UC) Lapu-Lapu/Mandaue, UC-Banilad, UC-Main, University of the Visayas and Southwestern University.

The exams started at 6:30 a.m. yesterday and ended around 4:30 p.m.

Atty. Dan Malayang, Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) regional director, said that with an estimated 9,000 takers, more took the exams this month compared to the 6,000 who tried to hurdle them last June.

The increase, he said, may be attributed to those who retook the exams after failing to pass last June.

He assured that additional precautions have been taken this year to prevent another cheating scandal.

In 2006, a reported leak in the nursing board examinations tarnished the country’s image as a source of nursing professionals. As a result, the batch had to re-take a portion of the exams.

Malayang said that one measure they adopted is having the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation guard around the clock 102 boxes of test sheets delivered from Manila.

He said, though, that one challenge they have continuously stayed vigilant about is the prevention of cheating within the ranks of the Philippine Nursing Board. (JKV)