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Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Nurses who fail retake to keep license: labor chief
MANILA -- The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) on Tuesday assured nursing graduates who plan to take again Tests 3 and 5 of the tainted June 2006 licensure examination that they would keep their license even if they fail the exams.
Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said the voluntary retake of Tests 3 and 5 is only for purposes of getting a US visa under the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS).
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Brion also said once the exams are checked, the results will be handed directly to Dole and not to the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC).
Of the 17,000 nursing board exam passers, Brion said they anticipate that 15,000 would undertake the exams for the VisaScreen certificate of the CGFNS.
The CGFNS last week rejected the Philippine government's appeal to allow Filipino nurses who took the June 2006 licensure examination to get a VisaScreen.
Brion said he has made arrangements with PRC and the Board of Nursing on administering Tests 3 and 5, which were leaked to the examinees, during the retake.
Malacañang, meanwhile, gave the go-signal to a congressional task force headed by Bacolod Representative Monico Puentevalla for a final attempt to convince CGFNS to reconsider its decision to deny June 2006 nursing examination passers a VisaScreen.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the congressional team is set to leave for the US on the first week of March to meet with representatives of CGFNS.
Reports said members of the Philippine Nursing Association (PNA) would be going with Puentevella to the US.
According to Presidential chief of staff Joey Salceda, government was already set to announce that it is prepared to pay the cost of a retake. It, however, decided to defer the announcement pending the results of Puentevella's trip.
Salceda and Budget secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said the government is not trying to give false hope to the affected board passers but "merely trying to exhaust all options."
Andaya said government has enough funds to shoulder the cost of a retake.
He said initial plan is to select state universities and colleges where the retake would be conducted and for the cost to be shouldered by these institutions.
Andaya said if the labor department requests that the cost of review be subsidized by the government, this could be accommodated and made possible with funds from Dole. (MSN/JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (February 28, 2007 issue)
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