Filipino Nurses Support Group
Statement
Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Philippine government accountable for nursing test scam – symptom of a sick health care system

31 August 2006

With news of the recent nursing board leakage scam in the Philippines, migrant Filipino nurses in Canada say the scam is yet another example of the exploitation of Filipino nursing students and nurses.  The Filipino Nurses Support Group (FNSG) argues that the illicit release of exam questions in the Philippines is an indication of deep problems plaguing the Philippine health care system.

The recent scandal involved leakage materials of the June 11 to 12 nursing board examinations of at least 200 questions.

Government agencies under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo are trying to hide their irresponsibility by shifting the blame on the victims themselves – the nurses/examinees.  Instead of ensuring quality nursing education and health care for the Filipino people, Arroyo is more concerned in sending them abroad as milking cows for their foreign dollar remittances.

FNSG believes the desperation of many Filipinos to work abroad, including nurses, is a driving force behind this recent exam scandal.  Desperate to pass the nursing exam and work abroad, many students fall victim to such scams.  Diploma mill nursing schools and review centres exploit this desperation and will do anything to compete for more students and more profits. In the end, the quality of nursing education, profession and the whole health care system suffers.

According to IBON Foundation, the minimum daily wage amounts to only 47% of what a family of six needs to meet its minimum basic needs.  Eighty percent of Filipinos do not make enough to meet their daily needs.  The average monthly wages for nurses is between PhP5,500 to PhP16,500 and for doctors is between PhP9,700 to PhP23,500.

In line with the Philippine government’s Labour Export Policy (LEP), nursing schools attune their curriculum more and more to meet the needs of the Western health care system to prepare graduates for jobs abroad.  Over 40,000 nurses take the National Licensure exam yearly, many with the objective of going overseas.  A shocking 15,000 nurses leave the Philippines each year to seek jobs overseas.  In fact, the Philippines is not only the top source country of nurses worldwide, but is the number one exporter of people.

Overworked and underpaid Filipino nurses grab the opportunity to migrate overseas in search of greener pastures.  Doctors, physiotherapists, and other health professionals who intend to go abroad enroll in nursing.  Meanwhile, the Philippine health care system remains poorly funded and understaffed.

The economy is kept afloat by dollar remittances of over 8 million Filipinos working abroad, including thousands of health workers and professionals, a product of the LEP.  Remittances amounted to $10.7 billion USD as of 2005 according to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

Ironically once abroad, many nurses continue to face exploitation. Those who come to Canada for example, are recruited through the Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) since they do not earn enough immigration points as nurses.  Despite the dire nursing shortage, they are forced to work as around-the-clock live-in caregivers who cook, clean, and care for children, elderly, and sick of Canadian families.  They become de-skilled – their personal and professional development stalled or permanently taken away by Canadian immigration and accreditation barriers that stream them into home support work, food services, warehouse jobs, and other cheap labour positions.

FNSG believes that Filipino nurses in Canada are not free from the clutches of money-making schemes.  The group has documented stories of Filipino nurses having to pay $10,000 for a private nursing refresher course rather than waiting three years in the public system.  Some pay $6000 for a 6-month private nursing exam review program.

Whether in the Philippines or in Canada, the lack of an adequately funded public health care system and supports for nurses, doctors and other medical professionals affects the quality of people’s health and lives.  This is why we continue to oppose the privatization of the health care system in Canada and continue to assert for the rights and welfare of Filipino nurses living and working in Canada.

At the same time, FNSG looks back to the roots of forced migration from the Philippines.  Instead of providing decent employment and livelihood in the Philippines, the government plans to intensify the overseas deployment of working Filipinos.  An example is Philippine President Arroyo’s plan to train them as “supermaids”.
The problem of forced migration of much-needed nurses and other health professionals will not end unless genuine land reform and national industrialization take place.  We believe a people’s government which truly places the interests of the people at the forefront of their agenda would not continue to actively export its own nurses, doctors and other health professionals to the detriment of its own people’s health and welfare.

For more information, please contact:
Filipino Nurses Support Group
phone: (604) 255-6870
email: fnsg@kalayaancentre.net
website: www.kalayaancentre.net