6,879 Filipino nurses take US licensure exam

A total of 6,879 Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) graduates from the Philippines took the U.S. licensure examination for the first time from January to March 2024, aiming to secure employment in America, Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo, vice chairperson of the House Committee on Higher and Technical Education, announced on Sunday.

“We expect a large number of Philippine nursing graduates to continue pursuing their career aspirations in America and other foreign labor markets as long as we continue to underpay them here at home,” Rillo said on International Nurses Day.

The world recognizes the contributions of nurses every May 12, the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

“Congress must substantially upgrade the starting base pay of our nurses now if we want to retain at least some of them for our public hospitals,” Rillo added.

In 2023, a record-breaking 36,410 nursing graduates from the Philippines took the U.S. licensure test for the first time, not including those who repeated the exam.

Citing data from the U.S. National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc., Rillo noted that from January to March, 1,486 nursing graduates from India, 744 from Kenya, 632 from Nepal, and 613 from Ghana also took the U.S. licensure test for the first time.

Rillo is advocating for the passage of his bill that seeks to increase by 75 percent the starting base pay of public nurses.

Under House Bill No. 5276, authored by Rillo, the starting salary for government nurses would rise to P63,997 per month from the current P36,619.

Similarly, Sen. Sonny Angara has introduced Senate Bill No. 638, which aims to raise the entry-level salary of public nurses to P51,357 per month.

Reports indicate that up to 4,500 positions for nurses in public hospitals managed by the Department of Health (DOH) remain vacant due to the lack of applicants.

The World Health Organization (WHO), in its State of the World’s Nursing 2020 report, projected that, without immediate action, there would be a global shortfall of 4.6 million nurses by 2030.

“The shortfall of nurses in the Philippines is expected to reach 249,843 by 2030 unless significant investments are made now to retain them in the local health sector,” the WHO report warned.