Good Bye Nurses

The US Senate is expected to pass a sweeping immigration bill that will remove the cap on existing quotas on nurses. This can potentially hurt the Philippines in a very bad sort of way. But look at what the government has to say:"

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye allayed fears by some groups that the measure the US Senate was expected to pass soon will hurt the country's health care system, which was already facing a severe shortage of nurses.

The US legislation removing the cap on the hiring of nurses was needed to help the US cope with its own growing shortage of nurses, reports said."

New nurses keep coming up, they are replaced at almost the same rate they are recruited, so I think we will not have shortage of manpower," Bunye said.

Besides, Bunye said the government could not prevent its manpower from leaving the country to seek "greener pastures."

He added that Filipino talents were "marketable," being known as world-class workers.

He also said that remittances sent by Filipinos overseas did not only help the country but most especially their families, who use the money to finance the schooling of those willing to take up nursing.

What the government can do is to accelerate the training of those in medical services, Bunye said."

As always, short-term thinking dominates. Does the press secretary know that the bill will enable these nurses to take along with them their entire families? I wonder how many weeks these promised remittances will continue to shore-up our dependent economy until they dry up permanently. Our greatest resource has always been our people, decent, hard-working, honest and capable of tremendous sacrifice. How the government treats its people as dependable cash cows regardless of whatever personal sacrifices they have to endure shows the entire world how much regard the people in power back home have for us.