RP nurses remain competitive globally-PRC

[Mcgyver]

MANILA -- Filipino nurses still have the competitive advantage in the Southeast Asian region, an official of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) has said.

PRC Commissioner Ruth Padilla said that despite the 2006 signing of the Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Nursing Services, other Southeast Asian countries have been having a hard time keeping up with the Philippine educational and professional standards.

"Nursing degrees in other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) only take two to three years; they do not have a full baccalaureate degree on nursing like we have," Padilla said.

With the signing of the MRA on Nursing Services, Filipino nurses now have easier access to employment opportunities in the ASEAN healthcare sectors. Under the MRA, licensed Filipino nurses will be recognized by the host country and will be allowed to practice their profession in ASEAN member countries and vice versa.

Padilla said other nations in the region have been sending their experts to the country to examine and study the Philippine's comprehensive degree on nursing....

By Margaux Ortiz

Philippine Daily Inquirer

(www.inquirer.net.)

[suzanne4, RN]

The Philippines will not even permit someone that trained there but does not hold citizenship from there to get licensed, so how in the world can they expect other countries to automatically accept nurses from there?

They cannot have it both ways.