Unemployed Filipino nurses may start applying for govt’s NARS program

MANILA, Philippines - Despite criticisms that the Nurses Assigned in Rural Service (NARS) program won’t make Filipino nurses attractive overseas, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has said that those interested may start applying starting Friday. The NARS program of the Arroyo administration is supposed to be a “stop-gap measure" against unemployment amid the global financial crisis. Under it, at least five nurses will be sent to each of the 1,000 poorest towns in the Philippines and will be paid at least P8,000 monthly for one whole year. In a statement on Thursday, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said interested nurses may start filing their applications at the nearest DOLE regional office or submit it online at http://www.nars.dole.gov.ph where application forms may also be downloaded. Roque said that unemployed registered nurses who are physically and mentally fit and willing to serve in their hometowns and who meet the following requirements may qualify: a) with valid nurse license issued by the PRC, b) not over 35 years old, c) resident of the identified municipalities; d) no nursing-related practice for 1-3 years. He said that DOLE would entertain applications and conduct the selection of nurses for deployment to rural areas until March 22 while an initial 5,000 nurse-trainees would also be selected for deployment beginning April 1. In addition, a batch of 5,000 nurse-trainees would be recruited between August 15 to September 30 and another batch would also be selected starting October 1. Roque said the NARS program was conceived to provide employment and the essential work experience to unemployed nurses. “Employed workers would sustain demand and, thus, the economy," he said. With the NARS program, the labor chief said the unemployed nurses would be paid while gaining the work experience, which they need for full-time employment in hospitals here and eventually abroad. Launched by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during the Multi-Sectoral Summit on “Joining Hands Against the Global Crisis" held recently in Malacanan Palace, the NARS program is a collaborative undertaking of the DOLE, the Department of Health (DOH), and the Professional Regulations Commission’ Board of Nursing (PRC-BON). The DOH and PRC-BON would design the NARS training module and closely monitor the training process to ensure that the nurse-trainees are equipped with competencies essential for local and overseas employment. However, recruiters have previously said that funds for the NARS program should instead be diverted instead to the improvement of government hospital facilities in both rural and urban areas. “This is a much better way in helping the plight of unemployed nurses instead of sending them to the provinces to do clinical work which is not the requirement abroad," said Jackson Gan, vice-president of the Federated Association of Manpower Exporters. He said more than 100,000 licensed nurses are unemployed because private and government hospitals do not have the funds to hire them. According to the Board of Nursing of the Professional Regulation Commission, a total of 27,765 or 43 percent of the 64,459 who took the nursing licensure exam last June 2008 passed. But as Filipino nurses keep eyeing better opportunities abroad, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said that 15,079 nursing graduates took the US licensure exams for the first time from January to September 2008. - Kimberly Jane T. Tan, GMANews.TV