The Philippines is the top nurse-producing country in the world, according to a study conducted by Worldwide HealthStaff Associates Ltd. True enough, when I was in college, the biggest department in terms of population is the School of Business and Governance. But it did not stay that way for long. When my school opened the College of Nursing for the first time, the pioneer enrollees almost surpassed the business students.
On the next semester, the school campus was instantly populated with a new set of uniform. Apart from the standard all-white blouse and skirt for women (the men did not have uniforms then), there is a new set of all-white uniforms for nursing students. And the male nursing students were also required to wear uniforms. These nursing students can be recognized easily because of their new uniforms and because of their number, you can see them all over the campus. Also, these nursing students have other different sets of uniform depending on their schedule. They sometimes wear nursing scrubs for their hospital duties.
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| Click image to enlarge. CHED Data on Enrollment by Discipline and Year |
I know a lot of people who have joined the race and succeeded in getting the title "Registered Nurse." Some of them did not stop in just being an "RN" but they also took the qualifying NCLEX (National Council Licensure EXamination) to be able to legally practice as a nurse in the United States. It is not unusual that most registered nurses in the Philippines would choose to relocate to countries abroad. It is a fact that here in our country, it is difficult to look for nursing jobs. Registered nurses would have to pay the hospital in order for them to be accepted as volunteers. Our public hospitals need more nurses but our government cannot afford to pay higher rates. It is always better to have a job (and a high-paying one) than to be unemployed. I don't feel any remorse for those who exchanged their nursing scrubs with headsets.
But Philippines is not only number one in producing nurses. My country is also a proud top three outsourcing country in 2010. This explains why we have call center nurses. I know that sometimes, these nurses working on call centers are discriminated by fellow Filipinos. The call center industry in my country is really a big boost in the economy. I'd rather have call center nurses than jobless registered nurses. Jobs are scarce in this part of the globe. That's why in 2008, the Philippines was also fourth on the top countries which send legal immigrants to the United States. The Philippines was behind Mexico, India, and China. It is understandable that Mexico should be on the top list because of its proximity to the United States. India and China are the two biggest countries therefore you can expect some of their citizens on different parts of the globe. But considering the Philippines' size, I can dreadfully imagine that if all Filipinos were to go home to the Philippines, then our 7,100 islands would sink.
