With slump in demand for nurses, more Pinoys opt to become doctors

MANILA, Philippines - More young Filipinos now opt to become doctors apparently due to the slump in the demand for nurses abroad.

The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) yesterday reported an increase in the number of Filipinos entering medical school.

Dr. Jose Cueto, a member of the PRC Board of Medicine (BOM), said the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) has informed the PRC of the sudden reverse in the number of students entering medical and nursing schools nationwide.

“There is now a reverse pattern of education with more students now taking up the National Medical Admission Test (NMAT), a requirement for entrance to any medical school in the country,” Cueto disclosed.

Cueto said the evident rise in NMAT examinees came in the midst of the continuing decline in the number of students entering nursing school.

“There has been a drop in the number of nursing students so we thought the rise in NMAT examinees came from there,” Cueto said.

According to Cueto, they have also received reports that many nursing graduates who are now having difficulty finding employment are opting to take up medicine.

“Before it’s the doctors who are taking up nursing because they want to work abroad. Now it’s the reverse, our nurses are continuing their studies and are entering medical schools,” Cueto added.

The government previously reported about 10,000 doctors who have turned nurses and 99 percent of the figure passed the licensure examination. More than half of those doctors-turned nurses have left for abroad.

For the past years, however, there has been a slump in the demand for nurses in foreign countries that triggered a surplus of nurses in the Philippines.

But Cueto said the increasing trend in the number of medical students may still not bring about positive results unless the country would be able to address the exodus of health workers overseas.