‘Produce as many nurses as those who go’

Malacañang is not bothered by the possible consequences of a US immigration bill on the Philippine medical system, saying that it cannot keep people from leaving if they want to anyway, and that more Filipino nurses working abroad would mean higher dollar remittances for the country.
       Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in a news briefing that he is not aware of a provision in an immigration bill expected to pass in the US Senate this week, which will lift the limit on the entry of foreign nurses in the US once the law takes effect, but maintained that any such measure would not lead to a local shortage of nurses.
       Asked whether the government has put in place measures to avert a crisis in the medical system should Philippine nurses leave in droves for the US once the law is in effect, Bunye said: “This is the first time we heard about the proposed bill, but I don’t think we can prevent our manpower from seeking greener pastures. Our talents are very marketable not only here but also abroad.
       “But at the same time, even as they leave the country, they send back resources which in turn help their families and even some younger siblings to take up similar courses that they are leaving behind.”
       He said that all the government can do is to “try to accelerate the training of persons who are engaged in the medical services.”
       “I think that’s about all we can do. I don’t think we can stop people from going abroad and seeking better employment. We see that new nurses keep coming up, they [nurses going abroad] are replaced at almost the same rate that they are recruited, so I don’t think we will have a shortage of qualified manpower,” he said.
       On whether a possible nurse shortage is a government concern, he said, “I think we should take pride [in the fact] that our local talents are very marketable and they contribute to the economy by sending back to their families their remittances.”
       A New York Times special report had said that a “little-noticed provision” in an immigration bill pending in the US Senate could potentially drain the nursing resources of developing countries like the Philippines, which is already deploying thousands of nurses to the US, the United Kingdom and other parts of the developed world.
       That particular Senate provision, the report said, would remain in force until 2014 and does not provide for compensation for affected countries for the training and loss of nurses and doctors who seek greener pastures abroad.
       The report contends that the “exodus of nurses from poor to rich countries has strained health systems in the developing world which are already facing severe shortages of their own.”
       Local nurses have been lured abroad by compensation packages so attractive that even doctors have been compeled to abandon their practice to train as nurses. M. Gonzalez