Unhealthy Exodus Of Filipino Nurses
Immigration reform was one of the big political issues of 2006 for America, but it means more than just controlling the number of people crossing illegally into the country, and as CBS News reporter Gaby Tabuñar reports, the implications of U.S. policy are being felt around the globe.
A bill passed by the Senate last year would raise the limit on the number of foreign nurses allowed to enter the United States. While that may be good news for American hospitals, it could be a dangerous prognosis for countries like the Philippines.
Dr. Jaime-Galvez Tan, who teaches at the University of the Philippines, says the bill, if passed and signed into law by the president, could bleed the health service in his country to death. "I forecast a collapse, a collapse of our health care system," said Dr. Tan in a report on CBS News "Up to the Minute."
For many years the Philippines has been a chief supplier of nurses for hospitals in the U.S. and other large countries. Doctors here say that, starting in 1960, about 2,000 Filipino nurses have left the country each year to work abroad.
This outflow shifted to high gear in 1999 when the U.S. approved 50,000 migrant visas per year for foreign nurses. "Since 1999, and the highest was in year 2003, we exported 30,000 nurses a year, so just in a span of like four years we exported a hundred thousand nurses." Dr. Tan says.
The reason behind the mass emigration of Filipino nurses is largely simple economics. According to Dr. Tan, "The salary is $4,000 dollars a month in the U.S., and in the Philippines a nurse will only get $180 to $220 (per month)."
Michaelangelo Ponayo is a 24-year-old registered nurse who wants to move to America. "Simple. I just want to pursue my dreams, I want to earn and maybe have a better life," Ponayo tells Tabuñar.
Dr. Zenaida Pasion is the chief of nursing services for a private hospital south of Manila. She says there's a fast turnover of nurses, and the skilled ones are the first to leave. It's a similar story at many other hospitals. "When I interview nurses who are about to be hired," she says, "I ask them if they have plans to go abroad and they always say yes."
Dr. Tan has studied the exodus of nurses for many years and laments the loss of human resources. "I really feel a sense of desperation," says Dr. Tan. He says that if policy makers in the Philippines government don't act, the health care system here may collapse entirely in just five years.
By Gaby Tabuñar