Richard Macalintal Helping people one blog at a time.
“Over 200,000 nurses are unemployed, underemployed & abused in the Philippines. Many of us are overworked but extremely underpaid. Help us gather awareness & support by changing your profile picture to pitch black from January 01-11,2011. It is time we take care of our prime care professionals! Appreciate your Nurses, take care of them – like they take care of you. Join the campaign now!”
This is the latest profile shoutout by one of my facebook friend. I feel sad for them that after spending four years in college to be trained as nurse, they will end up like other nurses in the Philippines.
I remember during my college years, nursing course became very popular. That time, US, UK and other countries announced their shortage and willingness to get nurses from the Philippines. Seeing this as a golden opportunity to work abroad, many enrolled nursing. Schools suddenly offered nursing courses, with most of them even sub standard. That started the influx of nursing students and graduates. Everyone wants to be a nurse with only one thing in their mind, to work abroad after they graduate.
Unfortunately, the demand is not that much to cater all of them. The hype about work abroad suddenly vanished, and their dreams of going abroad shattered.
Now they end up working in a hospital in the Philippines: overworked, abused and underpaid in their own country.
What can we do? Too much is really not good. Our country seems to have less hospital for them to work. The government cannot employ all of them.
I hope this should serve as an eye opener for all those aspiring nurses out there. Not only for nurses, but only for other courses as well. We usually go with the flow of the river, and end up floating in an ocean.
Take charge of your life and choose the best career that suits the market.
