I wuz proven right!
In my earlier entry, I snorted about the situation of nurses in the Philippines and I based it on Mara's experience.
My rants are now backed with hard stats and industry stalwarts even serve as "talking heads" validating the issues I raised.
Again, I give way to my former Chronicle boss, Boo Chanco, who zeroed in on the issue in his Philippine Star column.
Read on . . .
Now we have too many nurses
DEMAND AND SUPPLY
By Boo Chanco
Monday, April 7, 2008 (Philippine Star)
Guess what… we now have too many nurses. According to published reports, Dr. Josefina Tuazon, University of the Philippines College of Nursing Dean, said we have so many nurses so that many fresh graduates are now opting to work in some local hospitals as volunteers… for free.
I can believe that. That happened too with physical therapists, once a popular course because of the foreign job possibilities. I was shocked when some of the physical therapists from a leading hospital (who worked on the rehab program for my aching back some years ago) told me they are working for free… as volunteers.
Now it is the nurses’ turn. Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) National President Leah Paquiz was also reported to have disclosed that the United States, home to almost 250,000 Filipino nurses, stopped issuing work visas this year because the quota requirement for migrant workers has already been reached. There were 21,000 Filipino nurses seeking employment in the US in 2007.
Dr. Tuazon and Paquiz agree that the oversupply of nurses is fast becoming a serious problem for the country. Yet, local nursing schools, many of them nothing more than diploma mills, continue to graduate thousands of nurses every year.
The situation is also being aggravated by government’s move to “ladderize” nursing education so that thousands more can “graduate” as so called practical nurses. Practical Nursing is a two-year course that focuses on the basics of nursing.
“There is no local demand or positions for practical nurses within the Philippine Health Care Delivery system particularly in the light of the oversupply of nurses and subsequent unemployment of graduate nurses,” PNA’s Paquiz emphasized.
In a sense, all those schools that have mushroomed in the country overnight promising overseas employment for graduates of this two-year non-degree course are really just scamming hopeful parents and students of their hard-earned (or borrowed) money.
Paquiz said the promise of work abroad is not true as foreign employers prefer the four-year college-degree nurses who passed the Licensure Board Exams.
This is why the PNA had asked the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to put a stop to this Practical Nursing program.
The PNA “strongly objects to the institution of the Practical Nursing program and vehemently rejects the proposed ladderization of the nursing curriculum,” a PNA statement said.
Our people must now be told that taking up nursing is no longer a foolproof means of getting out of this country to earn enough for a better life.
If what the nursing dean is saying is true, a nursing diploma has now become a kind of “fool’s gold” that can only disappoint for those who want a quick ticket out of our country’s poverty.
This is more reason why government, through CHED, must cut the number of nursing schools by enforcing tough quality standards on the nursing schools that are allowed to operate.
As of June last year, a staggering total of 632,108 students were enrolled in more than 400 Philippine nursing schools, up 30 percent or 145,875 from the 486,233 enlisted in 2006.
TUCP spokesperson Alex Aguilar urged regulators to “be extra vigilant, and see to it that nursing students are kept away from substandard schools.”
Aguilar urged the CHED to step up the policing of nursing schools nationwide to protect parents and students from the so-called “diploma mills.”
“We must stress that regulators are duty-bound to safeguard the hopes of tens of thousands of Filipino families to produce a nurse who will eventually lead them to greener pasture,” Aguilar said.
CHED’s failure to protect parents and students from substandard nursing schools had also been criticized by the Commission on Audit (COA).
In a report to acting CHED Chair Romulo Neri, the COA said it was necessary for CHED to exercise its regulatory function to “maintain and protect standards set to ensure the quality of nursing graduates.”
Fat chance that’s going to happen! CHED had been totally remiss in its duty to regulate nursing schools. We only have to look at the results of the licensure examinations conducted by the Professional Regulation Commission for proof.
In that controversial nursing examination in 2006, 42,000 took the exam on June 11 and 12 but ONLY 42 percent passed, despite the leakage.
According to COA, “from 2001 to 2005, only 111 of 263 nursing schools nationwide managed to have 50 percent of their nursing graduates pass the licensure examinations. Worse, at least 19 or 7.22 percent of these schools had failed to pass even a single student,” said the COA.
The COA also pointed out that in the last 10 years, not a single nursing school whose graduates fared badly in PRC exams had been closed by the CHED.
The failure of CHED to perform its function is also affecting the professional reputation of Filipino nurses.
In a sense, CHED is destroying our brand. COA made a very apt observation: nursing schools with poor quality nursing education continue to proliferate and consequently affect the global competitiveness of Filipino nurses in the eyes of employers in America, Europe and the Middle East.
The Philippine Nurses Association in America (PNAA) had issued a statement expressing its concern on just this point. It said it wants to be able to assure the people of America that there is quality nursing education in the Philippines but there is evidence that our nursing graduates, the greater majority produced are not passing our own licensure tests. It is a national embarrassment.
Now that there is already an oversupply of nurses, this popular strategy of becoming a nurse to escape poverty may no longer be viable. #
Postscript -- Over two months after Mara started her frantic search for a nursing position, she's still jobless and so are her batchmates who are now joined by the thousands who passed the December 2007 licensure exam. Tens of thousands more are set to join the ranks of the unemployed now that the graduation season is over.
We were initially "encouraging" our daughter Ara to take up nursing, but with the way things are going, I'm now inclined to stand down.
Showing posts with label Boo Chanco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boo Chanco. Show all posts
Monday, April 7, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Dubai: The pain and the glory
Today, I'm yielding my spot to Boo Chanco, my former boss at the Manila Chronicle, who was in Dubai last week as one of the media observers in Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap's entourage. Sir Boo writes a business-oriented column in the Philippine Star.
Dubai: The pain and the glory
By Boo Chanco
Monday, March 3, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Thursday afternoon in the Middle East is like a Saturday afternoon back home. As we walked into the villa that houses the Philippine consulate, Consul General Benito Valeriano explained that Thursday is a busy day for the Consulate... marrying lovestruck OFWs. Photos of those intending to get married fill up the bulletin board in the public area of the consulate.
I spent a few days last week in Dubai to check out our efforts to tap the very promising export market in agricultural products there and incidentally came across the pain and the glory that describes the OFW experience in this gateway to the riches of the Middle East. There were outstanding stories of success... of ordinary refugees from our country’s economic hardships finding their big pot of gold. There were also heartbreaking stories of abuses and bad luck that make your heart cry out.
Dubai is a city of many faces in the heart of the oil rich Arabian peninsula. Dubai is Arabic, yet multinational and very cosmopolitan. It is ruled by an emir and is part of a federation of seven small states or emirates. An unofficial study commissioned by a federal body which advises the government revealed just last week that the population of the United Arab Emirates is now 5.6 million as of the end of 2006, up from 4.1 million, the last official figure at the end of 2005.
The strange thing about Dubai is that foreigners outnumber natives. The study, showed there were only 866,779 Emirati citizens among the population of over 5.6 million, the daily Al-Bayan said. Foreigners numbered 4,764,356, or 84.6 percent of the total population.
The last official figures showed 825,000 Emirati citizens, or just 21.9 percent. The study revealed the natives are now just 15.4 percent of the population. The latest study clearly showed that the native population of the oil-rich Gulf Arab country is steadily dwindling as more foreigners flock to the UAE, amid a spectacular economic boom and what is euphemistically known as the “demographic imbalance.”
The large foreign population gives it the feel of a melting pot of nationalities and cultures that explains its very international feel. Unlike Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Dubai in particular is very tolerant of religions other than Islam. Catholic churches are allowed, which is one reason our Pinoy community feels more at home there than elsewhere in the region.
There are officially 250,000 Filipinos in the emirates but I am told the number is more likely at least a hundred thousand more and rising. Many Pinoys go to Dubai ostensibly as tourists and just change status after they are able to get a job.
While the booming economy creates a lot of jobs, Ares Gutierrez, a journalist I used to work with at the defunct Manila Chronicle, warns that life there is no cakewalk.
If I had my rathers, Ares declared, I’d rather be home.
With inflation in the teens, the cost of living is high and can pose quite a challenge for the Pinoy fresh off the early morning Emirates direct flight from Manila.
Ares told a group of visiting journalists that renting a bed space can set an immigrant back at least 700 dirhams a month, which at P11 to a dirham is equivalent to P7,700. Ares explains that to save money, bed sharing has been devised, which is exactly what it suggests... two unrelated people sleeping on the same bed.
But there are spectacular success stories that encourage the ordinary OFW to hope and persevere.
One such success story is Rowena “Weng” Jamaji, originally from Olongapo. She was one such OFW in Dubai some years ago until she and her Iranian husband started a construction company. She told me that initially, her husband continued working as an executive in a construction company so they could cover the bills. Then Weng’s Midas touch started to work and they are now rich beyond any ordinary Pinoy’s dream, myself included.
Weng and husband Minoo and their three children live in a palatial home in Dubai’s most exclusive district. I saw in their garage a Rolls Royce, a Hummer, three or four Benzes of various types and I understand they have other cars I didn’t see. Given the construction boom in Dubai, Minoo told me they have clients begging them to accept their projects. He and Weng employ some 6,000 workers and are in the market for at least a thousand more.
Then, there is Vivian Economides, a Pinay married to a Greek, and she owns the Majestic Hotel where our group of journalists stayed. And, there’s Isabelita Sabado Warren who runs a trading company with her husband Glen. In fact, in a party Weng hosted for us in her home, we met more Filipinas who did extremely well in the Middle East and one thing they had in common was sheer determination to succeed and a firm control of finances. Those tough Pinays control the purse strings of their businesses.
But then, there are the heartbreaking stories of those who not only failed to meet their Arabian lamp genie but whose lives turned for the worse.
A local paper carried the story of a Pinay who was sideswiped by a speeding car while she was waiting for her ride to work. She suffered broken bones and some bleeding in her brain and is now undergoing therapy. She is worried about how to support the education of her children back home in the meantime. She is hoping to collect damages from the car owner.
The afternoon we were at the consulate, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap listened to the sad stories of four more OFWs and I am told they were typical of the difficulties our people suffer in search of a better life for their families. Hearing their stories puts a human face on the cold remittance figures that our officials routinely tout as their economic achievements.
Indeed, to the visiting Pinoy journalist, Dubai could well be an overseas colony of Imperial Manila.
Tagalog is widely spoken anywhere you go. Jollibee and Chowking are there. And Dindo Amparo, ABS-CBN News bureau chief is a local celebrity because they see him covering the local community’s activities and airing them on Balitang Middle East on ANC and The Filipino Channel (TFC).
Dubai’s key role as gateway to the Middle East market makes it an important place for Filipino business groups to show their wares.
That’s exactly what a few brave souls did last week at the GulFood Exhibition where 2,500 companies participated. Our Philippine exhibit area was pathetic compared to those of Thailand and Malaysia but that is also a reflection of how things are back home.
One gets an impression of how far Thailand and Malaysia have gone in terms of food manufacturing. Even their packaging is generally better looking than ours.
We can’t even completely blame government for our less than competitive appearance at GulFood because I understand in the case of Thailand and Malaysia, the driving force is really the private sector. I would have expected San Miguel to have a big presence in this exhibit as our largest food processor but they were hardly there... not even for the country’s sake.
Among our private sector participants, one has to give credit to the daring entrepreneurship of Mega sardines and Fortress Food. Michelle Tiu Lim Chua of Mega Sardines was particularly upbeat about the export prospects of this local brand.
What struck me with Fortress food, on the other hand, is the sheer bravado of seeking the export market for their canned Kaldereta Mechado and Kare Kare even before they really gain headway in the Philippine market. Fortress Food was also trying to sell Kalderetang Kambing, Sinampalukang Kambing and Papaitang Kambing under the Golden Farm brand.
Given the large Pinoy community not just in Dubai but in the whole region, it seems the Pinoys alone can support the popular Pinoy brands. At least one Arab is betting on Pinoys... Abu Nader employs an almost all Pinoy team of workers in his Philippine supermarket which looks like a grocery store in a provincial capital. His shelves carry familiar brands from Universal Robina, Oishi, Sunflower biscuits, Purefoods, among many others. Even the Nestle and Del Monte products there are Philippine made.
But the biggest opportunities are in the export of fresh fruits, particularly bananas.
From what I heard during meetings with traders, they can take any quantity we can produce and we already supply 99 per cent of all bananas sold at the UAE. But they urged Agriculture Secretary Yap to make sure we maintain the quality of our banana exports. Some less than desirable stock has reached the Middle East and is starting to harm our reputation.
Three days were just too short to get a good grip of what Dubai is in the context of our country and our people. But it was enough for me to know first hand that this is one major world capital that should have our attention. Dubai is indeed, our gate city to the riches and promises of the Middle East.
I spent a few days last week in Dubai to check out our efforts to tap the very promising export market in agricultural products there and incidentally came across the pain and the glory that describes the OFW experience in this gateway to the riches of the Middle East. There were outstanding stories of success... of ordinary refugees from our country’s economic hardships finding their big pot of gold. There were also heartbreaking stories of abuses and bad luck that make your heart cry out.
Dubai is a city of many faces in the heart of the oil rich Arabian peninsula. Dubai is Arabic, yet multinational and very cosmopolitan. It is ruled by an emir and is part of a federation of seven small states or emirates. An unofficial study commissioned by a federal body which advises the government revealed just last week that the population of the United Arab Emirates is now 5.6 million as of the end of 2006, up from 4.1 million, the last official figure at the end of 2005.
The strange thing about Dubai is that foreigners outnumber natives. The study, showed there were only 866,779 Emirati citizens among the population of over 5.6 million, the daily Al-Bayan said. Foreigners numbered 4,764,356, or 84.6 percent of the total population.
The last official figures showed 825,000 Emirati citizens, or just 21.9 percent. The study revealed the natives are now just 15.4 percent of the population. The latest study clearly showed that the native population of the oil-rich Gulf Arab country is steadily dwindling as more foreigners flock to the UAE, amid a spectacular economic boom and what is euphemistically known as the “demographic imbalance.”
The large foreign population gives it the feel of a melting pot of nationalities and cultures that explains its very international feel. Unlike Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Dubai in particular is very tolerant of religions other than Islam. Catholic churches are allowed, which is one reason our Pinoy community feels more at home there than elsewhere in the region.
There are officially 250,000 Filipinos in the emirates but I am told the number is more likely at least a hundred thousand more and rising. Many Pinoys go to Dubai ostensibly as tourists and just change status after they are able to get a job.
While the booming economy creates a lot of jobs, Ares Gutierrez, a journalist I used to work with at the defunct Manila Chronicle, warns that life there is no cakewalk.
If I had my rathers, Ares declared, I’d rather be home.
With inflation in the teens, the cost of living is high and can pose quite a challenge for the Pinoy fresh off the early morning Emirates direct flight from Manila.
Ares told a group of visiting journalists that renting a bed space can set an immigrant back at least 700 dirhams a month, which at P11 to a dirham is equivalent to P7,700. Ares explains that to save money, bed sharing has been devised, which is exactly what it suggests... two unrelated people sleeping on the same bed.
But there are spectacular success stories that encourage the ordinary OFW to hope and persevere.
One such success story is Rowena “Weng” Jamaji, originally from Olongapo. She was one such OFW in Dubai some years ago until she and her Iranian husband started a construction company. She told me that initially, her husband continued working as an executive in a construction company so they could cover the bills. Then Weng’s Midas touch started to work and they are now rich beyond any ordinary Pinoy’s dream, myself included.
Weng and husband Minoo and their three children live in a palatial home in Dubai’s most exclusive district. I saw in their garage a Rolls Royce, a Hummer, three or four Benzes of various types and I understand they have other cars I didn’t see. Given the construction boom in Dubai, Minoo told me they have clients begging them to accept their projects. He and Weng employ some 6,000 workers and are in the market for at least a thousand more.
Then, there is Vivian Economides, a Pinay married to a Greek, and she owns the Majestic Hotel where our group of journalists stayed. And, there’s Isabelita Sabado Warren who runs a trading company with her husband Glen. In fact, in a party Weng hosted for us in her home, we met more Filipinas who did extremely well in the Middle East and one thing they had in common was sheer determination to succeed and a firm control of finances. Those tough Pinays control the purse strings of their businesses.
But then, there are the heartbreaking stories of those who not only failed to meet their Arabian lamp genie but whose lives turned for the worse.
A local paper carried the story of a Pinay who was sideswiped by a speeding car while she was waiting for her ride to work. She suffered broken bones and some bleeding in her brain and is now undergoing therapy. She is worried about how to support the education of her children back home in the meantime. She is hoping to collect damages from the car owner.
The afternoon we were at the consulate, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap listened to the sad stories of four more OFWs and I am told they were typical of the difficulties our people suffer in search of a better life for their families. Hearing their stories puts a human face on the cold remittance figures that our officials routinely tout as their economic achievements.
Indeed, to the visiting Pinoy journalist, Dubai could well be an overseas colony of Imperial Manila.
Tagalog is widely spoken anywhere you go. Jollibee and Chowking are there. And Dindo Amparo, ABS-CBN News bureau chief is a local celebrity because they see him covering the local community’s activities and airing them on Balitang Middle East on ANC and The Filipino Channel (TFC).
Dubai’s key role as gateway to the Middle East market makes it an important place for Filipino business groups to show their wares.
That’s exactly what a few brave souls did last week at the GulFood Exhibition where 2,500 companies participated. Our Philippine exhibit area was pathetic compared to those of Thailand and Malaysia but that is also a reflection of how things are back home.
One gets an impression of how far Thailand and Malaysia have gone in terms of food manufacturing. Even their packaging is generally better looking than ours.
We can’t even completely blame government for our less than competitive appearance at GulFood because I understand in the case of Thailand and Malaysia, the driving force is really the private sector. I would have expected San Miguel to have a big presence in this exhibit as our largest food processor but they were hardly there... not even for the country’s sake.
Among our private sector participants, one has to give credit to the daring entrepreneurship of Mega sardines and Fortress Food. Michelle Tiu Lim Chua of Mega Sardines was particularly upbeat about the export prospects of this local brand.
What struck me with Fortress food, on the other hand, is the sheer bravado of seeking the export market for their canned Kaldereta Mechado and Kare Kare even before they really gain headway in the Philippine market. Fortress Food was also trying to sell Kalderetang Kambing, Sinampalukang Kambing and Papaitang Kambing under the Golden Farm brand.
Given the large Pinoy community not just in Dubai but in the whole region, it seems the Pinoys alone can support the popular Pinoy brands. At least one Arab is betting on Pinoys... Abu Nader employs an almost all Pinoy team of workers in his Philippine supermarket which looks like a grocery store in a provincial capital. His shelves carry familiar brands from Universal Robina, Oishi, Sunflower biscuits, Purefoods, among many others. Even the Nestle and Del Monte products there are Philippine made.
But the biggest opportunities are in the export of fresh fruits, particularly bananas.
From what I heard during meetings with traders, they can take any quantity we can produce and we already supply 99 per cent of all bananas sold at the UAE. But they urged Agriculture Secretary Yap to make sure we maintain the quality of our banana exports. Some less than desirable stock has reached the Middle East and is starting to harm our reputation.
Three days were just too short to get a good grip of what Dubai is in the context of our country and our people. But it was enough for me to know first hand that this is one major world capital that should have our attention. Dubai is indeed, our gate city to the riches and promises of the Middle East.
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