‘US government has no say in nursing exam policy’

The United States government is in no position to convince a nursing commission to reverse its ruling against the issuance of Visa Screen certificates to Filipino nurses who passed the June 2006 leakage-tainted licensure examination.

US embassy press attaché Matthew Lussenhop told The STAR that the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools or CGFNS, as a private institution, follows its own strict requirements for foreign nurses and is totally independent of the US government.

"That is a decision of the CGFNS. It is a non-government international organization and it is not part of the US government. The certificate is one of the requirements to get appropriate visa to qualify to work in hospitals in the US," Lussenhop said. "The US government has nothing to do with it."

CGFNS earlier said Filipino nurses belonging to the controversial batch of board passers should retake the exams if they wish to be issued Visa Screen certificates. The Philippine government appealed the decision.

But Dr. Eufemia Octaviano, former head of the Board of Nursing, said that only 30 US states require foreign health workers, including Filipino nurses, to take the CGFNS examinations.

She said that although the 20 other states do not require CGFNS exams, they want medical professionals who are products of foreign schools to go through the credential screening of CGFNS. She said Texas, New York, Florida and California are among the 20 states that don’t require CGFNS exams.

"They check the transcript of records, and if the curriculum and the clinical nursing practice of a foreign graduate are the same as those of a particular state," she said in a phone interview. "These are among the credentials that they look into."

It is also CGFNS’ task to determine whether a foreign health worker is qualified for an immigration visa.

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said on Saturday that the controversial batch of nurses may have to retake the exams if they want a "closure" of the controversy.

Brion made the observation over the weekly radio program "Para Sa Iyo Bayan" of Vice President Noli de Castro. CGFNS, he said, wanted a retake of the Test 3 (medical and surgical nursing) and 5 (neuro-psychiatric) exams. "I’m glad we were given an opportunity for a retake," he said.

He explained that the Supreme Court (SC) decision only allowed June 2006 board passers to take their oaths and be given licenses. "CGFNS doesn’t care if you have a license here in the Philippines," he said.

Although Britain, Libya and the Middle East have high demand of nurses, Brion said most of the nurses would like to seek employment in the US.

At least six passers in the June 2006 nursing licensure exam, he said, voluntarily retook the exam last December.

"These six volunteered and passed when they retook the exam last December. They don’t have any problem now. They retook the exam on their own," he said.

Meanwhile, Dante Ang, chairman of the Palace’s Commission on Filipino Overseas, said that with the CGFNS decision, the government is now taking steps to have the 17,000 passers of the tainted examinations retake the tests.

He said his office sought clarification on Saturday from Joe Tilghman, head of the US Embassy’s Non-Immigrant Visa Section, on whether there was indeed exemptions on the Visa Screen requirements in some 20 states for foreign nurses seeking employment in the US as earlier claimed by the Professional Regulation Commission.

He said it would be misleading to think the US was imposing its laws on the Philippines. He said the US government was merely upholding its own laws and not interfering with the government’s efforts to resolve the issue. He said it would also be absurd for the Philippine government to insist on its own interpretation of US laws.

"There are no exemptions for the Visa Screen certificates according to the US Embassy," Ang told The STAR in a telephone interview.

President Arroyo called Ang Friday directing him to exhaust all means to secure a favorable response from CGFNS or the US government. But Mrs. Arroyo was aware the Visa Screen certificate was a federal requirement.

"We are doing everything to seek reconsideration, however we (are) already realistic enough to accept that this is a federal law and that the flexibility might not exist at all. So while we are appealing our case, we are also simultaneously preparing to help the nurses," Ang said.

"We are now computing how much it would cost (the government to subsidize the retake) so that even while we are appealing the decision maybe we can already start the process of already raising money so that by the time a decision will be made by the CGFNS whether positive or negative we will be ready," he said.

"The US CGFNS said it cannot compromise public health and patients’ welfare while insisting on the legal. Legal and medical don’t go together," Ang said.

Ang, who since the scandal broke out pushed for a full retake, advised the board passers to retake the tests to resolve the issue once and for all and erase the stigma of cheating from their batch. —with Paolo Romero and Sheila Crisostomo