Wednesday, March 07, 2007 Villar favors retake of nursing exam By Nicolas C. Delfin
SENATE President Manuel "Manny" Villar said Tuesday that nurses that passed the tainted June 2006 licensure exam should have a retake if they really wanted to work in the United States.
This as the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS ) stands firm on its decision not to issue VisaScreen certificates to those who passed the examination unless they retake the questionable portions in test 3 and 5.
Villar said the Nursing Examination scam is one of the major problems that the country is facing, adding that "those who are fearless enough should make a choice and a sacrifice to lessen this problem."
The leak involved hundreds of nursing of applicants but jeopardized the employment chances of more than 42,000 nurses and threatened the country's reputation as the largest source of well-trained medical professionals especially in the US hospitals and health-care institutions.
"Sa mga alanganin, gawan na lang natin ng paraan at tingnan kung may iba pang bansa na pwede nilang puntahan at dun magtrabaho. Nakakapanghinayang lang dahil napakasakit ng ginawa ng mga nag-leak ng examination at talagang dapat silang makulong sa ginawa nilang kapahamakan sa ating mag-aaral," Villar said in Tagalog.
The latest CGFNS statement was posted recently on its website and attributed to its chief executive officer Barbara L. Nichols giving emphasis to the requirements of US immigration law.
Nichols said they recognized the June 2006 nurses who had been sworn in as registered nurses in the Philippines but it is US immigration law that requires the CGFNS to make "a determination as part of the VisaScreen process about several elements of the visa applicants' education, training, license, and experience, including their comparability to US nurses."
"After reviewing the circumstances concerning the irregularities of the June 2006 nursing license exam, CGFNS concluded that the licensure process for [that exam] is not comparable to that required of US nurses, and that US immigration law therefore prohibits issuance of a VisaScreen certificate to individuals who passed this exam," she said.
She added, "June 2006 nurses have the option to retake Tests 3 and 5 if they want to go to the US. This is what we were worried about. Unfortunately, only the few people who stood by us saw this coming."
"We wanted what was best for our nurses. We hope that the PRC, the PNA (Philippine Nursing Association), and the June 2006 nurses will open their eyes and not waste precious time and money but be productive."
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said there is nothing more that the Philippine Government can do to change the stand of the CGFNS.
"It's an action of a US agency," he said.
"What has to be corrected is the impression created abroad, especially in CGFNS na questionable ang pagkapasa nung mga gustong pumunta sa Amerika who took the 2006 examination (that those who passed the exams are questionable). To cure that I suppose we may just have to allow them to have a validation if they want to go to the US for them to be accepted under the aegis of the CGFNS," he said.(With reports from Sunnex)
