Perception
November 23rd, 2005 at 6:57 pm (General, Brain Drain, National Politics, Health)
Yesterday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) reported that Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas said that the so-called “brain drain” in the country is a mere perception. Sto. Tomas stated that the allegation that the country’s health care industry is heavily suffering from brain drain is not based on “hard facts.”
Let’s look at the facts as reported by the PDI (11/23/05):
According to Dr. Antonio Chang, president of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAP), about 1,000 private hospitals have closed since 2000.
According to the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), a total of 51, 850 nurses have left the country to work abroad.
According to Jossel Ebesate, secretary general of AHW, more than 5,000 doctors have left the country from 2000 to 2004. And about 4,000 more licensed physicians are studying nursing. (And I doubt that’s so they can be nurses here in the Philippines.)
If those are not hard enough facts for Sto. Tomas, then maybe she should visit hospitals, both private and public and see for herself that these hospitals are staffed not by licensed nurses but by nursing students. Nursing students who will not be staying in the country after they graduate.
Honestly speaking, do we even have to take a look at the hard facts to see the truth? We only have to look around us and ask nurses and nursing students what their goals are to know that this country is suffering a “brain drain.” And it’s not only the licensed physicians who are leaving the country to be nurses. Entrepreneurs, management graduates, education graduates, AB graduates, graduates from every school, course and degree are now going back to school to be licensed nurses so they could easily leave the country and work abroad.
If Sto. Tomas continues to deny these truths, and she and the government continue to live in their fantasy bubble where only good things happen to the country, then this country is really hopeless. How can a problem as big as a dying health care industry be solved if the government continues to deny that such [problem exists? Are they going to wait until the situation becomes too hopeless? Or are they just going to continually shrug it off as a mere “perception”?
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abner m. hornedo, m.d. said,
November 27, 2005 at 4:49 am
maybe the “good” secretary is in the stage of denial. a defense mechanism. i am a doctor and statistics DO NOT lie… most of us do not see anymore hope for our country. the exodus of doctors is a ‘national issue’ that needs to be addressed by the government asap or else the health of our country will be in dire straits.
philipp ines said,
December 9, 2005 at 1:12 am
i think the government should make a stand on the following issues that our country is facing nowadays, most especially to the nursing profession. the government should see to it that there are enough vacancies for jobs to the fresh nursing graduates especially to those competitive students.why is there a need? this is because of the fact that we, nursing students depend so much in our country and in case our own country doesn’t have that capacity to accomodate such number of graduates, especially to the competitive students, we would then therefore rely to other countries for our survival.
JDEspaldon said,
June 13, 2006 at 10:09 pm
May the good secretary then state what are the “hard facts”? In my town in the province of Sorsogon — I would not mention anymore the name of the town as I may offend some individuals — there is an emergency hospital without any doctor. There is also a municipal health clinic without any doctor. These to me are the “hard facts”, what are yours Madam Secretary? It is no wonder that our country has the least national problems as proclaimed by the political leaders, they are like ostriches who bury their heads in the sands. Problems are dismissed by our leaders as just concoctions of the so-called destabilizers and they just continue their merry way after their retort. After all, does anybody care what happens to our country? Those who can make a change are leaving the country. Those who are competent to run the government are shying away from public service or discouraged to continue their tenure. Those who are in the government are sending their money abroad and establishing their children’s hold abroad.
Kawawa kaming mga mahirap. We take all the brunt of all these denials and their real effects.
Bahala na ang Diyos.
FJBasMartinez 21,Nsg Student said,
July 4, 2006 at 5:38 am
Im currently a 4th year student of BS Nursing somewhere in Mindanao. Since my elementary days, i am so updated with the current issues and had a great concerned in our country,as i grow plus one every year,i noticed the inivitable sinking down of our country and the goverment can’t control its “down fall”. Eventhough how much my dad work hard to make a living for our family yet atleast we can survive another day,He always tell us: “mag-aral kayo ng mabuti at kelangan magtapos din kayo! wala na pag-asa sa Pilipinas” which is so hard for me to accept that even my father, working in the goverment would able to comment and voice out his deep frustrations. I really can see why my parents push me up and inspires me to pursue my Nursing profession. No wonder! if i would make a decision for myself to stay here in our country till i grow old has no clear chances of giving what the best for my family to be. I admire those People in the goverment who had been working so loyal firm and principled to the oath they vowed. And to those fellow filipinos who are working across the world,i salute them for making their lives and dreams come true. Perhaps, i would do the same thing.
GOD BLESS PHILIPPINES
Malmon ako!
michealyn said,
August 11, 2007 at 1:21 am
what is the advantages of brain drain? pls. state.
cyndi said,
October 6, 2007 at 3:06 am
there would always be both positive and a negative on every issue buT.. hellooo!! we benefit a lot from this so-called brAin drAin.. among the advantaes is our dollar reserves.. see?
there might be inadequacy on our manpower and/or skilled workers, but still, we are currently obtaining more gains than demerits out of brain drain.
so please!! help stop going downhill on this matter..