Don't punish us with retake

Arthur L. Allad-iw
Northern Dispatch
August 13, 2006

BAGUIO CITY (Aug.11) — “Why blame us for the mess that a few persons made?” a Baguio City nursing graduate said, in reaction to a suggestion that all nursing board examinees retake the exams.

Vernon Peralta, a nursing graduate of the Saint Louis University here, passed the June 2006 licensure examinations for nursing, which was marred by massive leakage that reached national proportions.

The leakage was first exposed by 92 Baguio City examinees, who filed a formal complaint with the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) last month.

“Everyone calls us cheaters, that we do not deserve to pass the exams,” Peralta complained during a forum held today at the Easter College gymnasium, dubbed as “Quo Vadis Philippine Nursing? Burning Issues and Responses”.

Around 2,000 nursing professionals, examinees and students from Baguio City, Cordillera and Ilocos regions attended the forum, filling the gymnasium to the brim. The activity was organized by the Philippine Nurses Association (PNA) chapters in Baguio and the Cordillera and the Cordillera Associations of Deans of the Philippines Colleges of Nursing.

“The leakage scam has tarnished the good image of the nursing profession in the country,” Dr. Cora Anonuevo, a professor of the UP-Manila College of Nursing, said during the forum. She urged the nursing community to help “bring back the integrity of the nursing organizations here.”

Anonuevo asked the nursing examinees to do the extreme sacrifice by “retaking” the board examinations, to which the passers reacted violently.

While those involved in the leakage must be investigated and punished, Peralta said, the authorities should not treat the nursing examinees as sacrificial lambs for the mess that they did not make.

Dr. Fe Marilyn Lorenzo and Anonuevo, both from the College of Nursing of the UP Manila, revealed that more groups are now calling for the resignation of the members of the Board of Nursing (BON ) to pave the way for the investigation on the controversy. This will “cleanse the agency that prepares and administers the board exam for nursing,” Lorenzo said.

Punish two BON

Nursing examinee leaders pointed to Anecia Dionisio and Virginia Madeja as the two BON members allegedly involved in the leakage, since the Tests III and V of the examinations were traced from them.

Although they are not under preventive suspension, the two BON members are restricted in performing their functions to avoid influencing the on-going investigation.

Nursing professionals charged that the PRC-dominated task force that is investigating the case tends to exonerate the two BON members and other personnel involved in the leakage, considered the worst in the history of Philippine licensure examinations.

Dionisio and Madeja reportedly filed their courtesy resignations on July 21, 24 and 26 but the PRC rejected them, added Anonuevo who saluted the 92 Baguio complainants for their bravery in opening a “pandora’s box”.

PNA, the Associations of Deans in the Cordillera, and the examinees criticized the PRC for not forming an independent fact-finding body. The PRC had earlier denied any scam, but backtracked when more leaked questions were revealed even in Metro Manila.

Symptom of a worsening health care

Aside from the leakage, the forum also discussed the Philippine nursing crisis and the public health care system.

In their talks, Lorenzo and Anonuevo explained that the leakage is a symptom of the present crisis in the country’s health care system.

Lorenzo noted the deteriorating quality of nursing graduates, as shown by the decreasing number of passers. Citing a decade-long study on the passing rate, she noted that before 2000, the passing rate was 57%. In 2000 it was still 54%, but in 2006, only 42% passed the leakage-marred exams.

Lorenzo said there are more schools now that produce low-quality graduates, with the proliferation of nursing schools from 210 in 1999 to 470 at present. This situation breeds a corrupting demand for leaked questions, so that nursing schools get favorable passing rates and avoid being closed, she explained.

Lorenzo had resigned as member of the technical group assigned by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to monitor nursing schools, because Malacañang did not adopt their policy recommendations on improving the country’s nursing and health care system.

Among the technical group’s recommendations is to adopt a nursing education that caters to the country’s needs rather than mass-produce nurses for export. Lorenzo explained that six out of 10 nurses go abroad annually, which affects local hospital operations and health care delivery.
Service to the needy

Dr. Ana Marie Leung explained that the call to re-orient nursing education should be linked to the original call of service to the most needy. Leung, a UP Manila graduate herself, is the director of the Community Health Education, Services and Training in the Cordillera Region (Chestcore) that focuses on health services to far-flung communities in the Cordillera and Ilocos regions.

“Instead of strengthening the public health care system, the government promotes a labor export policy which includes our nurses,” Leung said. An estimated 85% (about 150,000) of employed Filipino nurses are working abroad, she added. In the past four years alone, there were 20,000 nursing graduates while 50,000 nurses went abroad, she added. Leung estimated that 80% of public health doctors have enrolled in nursing.

Leung chided the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) for being more concerned about the impact of the nursing exam leakage on the overseas reputation of Filipino nursing graduates, including the Philippines’ bid to have a local National Council Licensure Examination for Nurses (NCLEX) for them to work in the United States.