Press Release
February 13, 2007

SEN. PIA COMMENDS CHAIRMAN DANTE ANG,
NURSES' TASK FORCE FOR BRINGING NCLEX TO RP

Senator Pia S. Cayetano today commended Commission on Filipinos Overseas Chairman Dante Ang and the rest of Task Force NCLEX for successfully convincing US nursing board authorities to hold the National Council Licensure Examinations (NCLEX) here in the Philippines.

"Bringing the US nursing licensure exams to the country represents a major breakthrough that would benefit thousands of Filipino nurses and their families," said Cayetano, chairperson of the senate committee on health and demography.

"This means that Filipino nurses can now take the exams here, instead of flying to other countries like Guam or Hong Kong. It lessens the cost and the troubles of application and traveling to another country," she added.

She also noted that the development brings a whiff of fresh news to the nursing sector which was saddled by the nursing exam leakage scandal in June 2006.

The lady senator acknowledged that the breakthrough has its own downside, since this would mean a bigger deluge of nurses lining up for work in the US, including Filipino doctors who will retrain as nurses.

"The migration of health professionals is a sad reality that we have to accept. We just cannot stop our doctors and nurses from looking for greener pastures elsewhere, unless we can offer them viable alternatives here," she explained.

Cayetano led a congressional inquiry into the exodus of doctors and nurses last year. Among her committee's recommendations is the full implementation of the Magna Carta for Health Workers and the Philippine Nursing Act, particularly their provisions for better salaries, benefits and work conditions.

The committee also pushed for the formulation of a National Health Service Act, which would require medical science graduates from State Colleges and Universities and those who benefited from government scholarships to serve in the country first before being allowed to work abroad.

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