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CEBU CITY — Fililpino nurses can look forward to greater overseas employment opportunities in the months ahead with the scheduled adoption of a new agreement liberalizing the trade in professional nursing services within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), former senator and labor advocate Ernesto Herrera said.
"Our nurses can count on easier access to the lucrative job markets of ASEAN members once the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on Nursing Services comes into force," said Herrera, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines secretary-general.
The agreement will definitely be signed during the 12th ASEAN Summit in Cebu this December, according to Herrera, former chairman of the Senate labor, employment and human resources committee.
"The covenant essentially means that Philippine-licensed nurses will be automatically recognized as nurse practitioners by other ASEAN members," Herrera said.
ASEAN groups 10 countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Herrera said the MRA would expedite the recognition of the qualifications of Filipino nurses, and thus, considerably ease their recruitment and deployment within ASEAN.
"This means our nurses do not have to take the national nurse licensure examinations of other ASEAN members to be able to practice in those countries," he said.
"Right now, for instance, Singapore recognizes nurses from Malaysia and Brunei, but the city-state does not recognize nurses from the Philippines," Herrera said.
"For a Filipino nurse to practice in Singapore, he or she has to pass the city-state’s nurse eligibility test, similar to the US National Council (of State Boards of Nursing) Licensure Examinations for Registered Nurse or NCLEX-RN," he pointed out.
At present, most of the 4,000 foreign nurses working in Singapore are Filipinos. They all had to pass Singapore's nurse licensure test, Herrera said.
"The Philippines will be the MRA’s biggest beneficiary, since we are now the worlds biggest exporter of nurses," he said.
Since the MRA is mutual, Herrera said the Philippines would also automatically recognize nurses from other ASEAN members.
He said the MRA, which is part of a Free Trade Agreement initiative, had been in the works for years, and was finally only this month, ahead of the December summit.
The former senator said the Philippines should negotiate with Japan a similar MRA for health professionals.
"Japan is a huge potential market for our nurses, physical therapists and caregivers. Government should dump the proposed Japan-Philippines Free Trade Agreement if Tokyo refuses to have an MRA with us on health services," he said. (PR)
