Senator defends Pinoy nurses from New Zealand official’s ‘attacks’

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy" Estrada on Saturday said a New Zealand official went out of bounds in making a sweeping remark questioning the qualifications of Filipino nurses. Estrada said Nursing Council director David Wills “unethical attacks against Filipino nurses" was uncalled for and should be answered with a diplomatic protest if he does not issue a public apology. "We should defend our countrymen, especially theo Filipino workers (OFWs), against this affront," Estrada said on his program “Boses ng Masa" (Voice of the Masses) aired every Friday over radio station DZRH. Estrada is the chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development and the joint congressional oversight committee on labor and employment. Wills said that New Zealand as well as other overseas nursing authorities have stopped registering Filipino nurses because of concerns over their qualifications. A New Zealand newspaper earlier questioned the nursing qualifications and training programs in the Philippines, noting that the number of nursing students in the country boomed from 30,000 in 2004 to 450,000 in 2008. "It is easier to get a fresh graduate from Kenya registered (in New Zealand) than someone from the Philippines," he was quoted saying. Estrada said Wills’ statement was unfair. “I will not accept such wrong treatment to Filipino nurses, with due respect to nurses from Kenya. The mere increase in the number of students taking up the nursing course does not in any way translate to a decrease in the quality of nursing studies in the Philippines," Estrada said. He said his office received a letter-complaint from a Filipino nurse who spent at least $8,000 to process her application and deployment in New Zealand, but was eventually denied registration by the Council, thus resulting to her current status as unemployed and overstaying alien in that country. Philippine Ambassador Bienvenido Tejano reported over the phone from Wellington, New Zealand to Estrada that there are about 50 “distressed" overstaying Filipinos in New Zealand, many of them nurses who were denied registration by the Council. Tejano feared that the number of distressed Filipinos in New Zealand would arise following the disenfranchisement of Filipino nurses from registering thru its Council. He said his office also received a letter from New Zealand national, Bill Marshall, who said: "Based on my personal experience, having been a patient in Middlemore Hospital heart ward, I can say Thank God for nurses from the Philippines. It has occurred to me that our hospital system (in New Zealand) could risk collapse without the contingency of Filipino nurses that we have. Filipino nurses deserve our respect." Estrada said the Philippine government should immediately resolve the issue with the New Zealand Nursing Council and push for fair treatment of Filipino nurses by New Zealand as part of its "due recognition" of the OFWs' contribution to its healthcare system and its economy. - GMANews.TV