Belgium eyed as market for PH nurses

1:06 am | Wednesday, December 26th, 2012

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Philippine government is considering Belgium as a new market for Filipino nurses.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said talks that could lead to the enactment of a mutual recognition arrangement for Filipino nurses are now underway.

“This could result in the deployment of our nurses in Belgium and probably even to other member-countries of the European Union,” Baldoz said in an interview.

Foreign nurses apparently encounter difficulty in entering Belgium due to restrictions imposed by the European Commission.

The European Commission passed in 2005 Directive 2005/36/EC which limits workers.

The European Directive is the relevant law on equivalency which consolidates the rules currently regulating the recognition of professional qualifications.

“Based on the directive, licensed Filipino nurses still have to undergo course adaptation to elevate their credentials to be at par with the Belgian nursing curriculum,” Baldoz said.

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Tags: Belgium , Europe , European Union , Filipino nurses , Global Nation , Labor , ofws , Overseas employment , Philippines

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_7W7IOOVSMXPI4IM4SMGC47FS7I larry

akala ko ba this administration will be shifting its orientation to make filipinos find gainful jobs here in Pinas? this action of DOLE is saying that the words of the president are just empty promises. wala din siguro mangyayari sa economy ng Pinas kung hindi magsasacrifice ang mga OFWs, so wala ding laman yung sinasabing economic growth
http://profile.yahoo.com/VS5EYSP4FPOTVQCJZ24NRE6Z2M Edgardo Mendoza

KAKAAWA NA MGA PINOY IIWAN NA NAMAN ANG PILIPINAS AT MAGIGING ALIPIN SA IBANG BANSA KAILANGAN NG PILIPINAS NG MARAMING TRABAHO ANG MERON LANG SA PILIPINAS PANTAWID GUTOM!! WALANG TRABAHO!!
CmdrAdobo

Good luck sa inyong lahat.

Yes sana naman more jobs sa bansa natin para di na kailangan mag-abroad. Eto kasing mga placement agency they are greedy.
Vertumnus

This is the governments solution to unemployment in the Philippines. Send out our youngest and brightest just so they can send back money to the Philippines.

For those nurses, good luck and apprendre à speack françaises! Bonne chance et que Dieu soit avec vous!
Wees voorzichtig, sommige belgische mannen zijn perverselingen. My Dutch is a little rusty.

foreignerph

Belgium is actually a loosening federation of two countries: Flanders and the Walloon-Brussels area. There is a fair chance that it will split up sooner or later. Flanders is the largest and the richest region with a thriving economy and the port of Antwerp, while the French-speaking Walloon-Brussels area is in economic decline. Flanders offers the most opportunities, the region is the largest with over 60% of the population, and it speaks Dutch like in the neighboring Netherlands, one of the top performers in the EU next to Germany.

The belief that to make it in Belgium you need to know French is totally outdated. That hoax is continued by the media that still get most of their info from the French-speaking fraction that in the past has dominated the country. Decades ago, the diplomacy was also French-dominated leading to the global faulty perception that Belgium is a French-speaking country which it isn’t. The majority in Belgium speaks Dutch.

There are other factors to consider. While French speakers in general are quite ethnocentric with a poor knowledge of English and an appalling accent, Dutch speakers are in general trilingual with a good knowledge of English. Just like the the neighboring Dutch (Netherlands) with which Flanders used to form one country till 1830, Flemish as seafarers have a very cosmopolitan mindset that makes it easier to integrate.

Good luck with learning French, but you will limit your chances considerably in Belgium. Learning Dutch is easier than French for a Filipino since it belongs with German to the same language group and it has many words in common. As I have been teaching Dutch (for free) in the Phils for a couple of years, I discovered that the Filipino accent of Dutch is much better than the French accent.

As to the level of nursing education, sad to say it isn’t at the level of the Belgian education. That means you will have to spend at least a year to get by and pass the local exams. I hope this info helps a bit.

Vertumnus

Français or Belgische, they need to learn it. But that’s beside the point. The Philippine government are in essense pimping out our young people to the world. We are the becoming the medical professional supplier to the world. We export people not products. The Government must do something about the economy so that we don’t have to send our young to other countries.

DakuAkongUtin

Basta sa Europa racist ang mga tao doon. Ang daming DOMs or dirty old men. Ang mga ugaling pinay pa naman ay madaling mautouto. Pinos are very gullible and easily swayed . Kung makakita lang nang puti ay kilig na kilig na paranag nakakita ng Dios at SantoPapang bayut.

foreignerph

You are a racist sir. Don’t call our dirty old men dumb since the average IQ of Belgium is 100, just like China, and the average IQ in the Philippines is 87. Or are you a dirty old man yourself, just jealous about the opportunities that young men and woman get abroad?

DakuAkongUtin

You are white azz ? Belgians are a dying breed . Might as well get your country become part of Germany .

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000725809650 Ron Aminodin

i believe our economy without the remittance of OFW will absolutely nothing. So Pnoy should never be proud of himself because that is the reality. as we can see there is nothing new with the financial status of the Filipinos. only those dirty politicians get richer and richer.

Vertumnus

I really wouldn’t go that far. While remittances accounts for around $19 billion, that’s only 8.5% of our annual nominal GDP. It’s a significant amount, which allow the Philippines to ride out economic turmoil that destroyed European economies.

latino_boom

You are correct there mate

roulers

Priorities are nurses from other countries that belongs to European Union, so please do not give false hope POEA. And for all those people whose bad-mouthing Belgium and its people, please look first in your own backyard. I know lots of kind-hearted Belgians just like I know many kind-hearted Filipinos.
Guest

k
starwarsclonewars

This might be true. I am a nurse who got recruited by one of the top recruitment agencies in Belgium last year and is still right now waiting for the work permit. I am assigned in the dutch speaking area of Belgium which is Flanders so basically we are required to study the dutch language for 3 months. The compensation and benefits which was stated in our contracts are excellent. We do not need to study for an additional year to match those of their nursing curriculum. We just have to apply for an academic recognition, professional recognition and working permit. It is really difficult to enter Belgium because of the long waiting for the administrative procedures which is not the case for EU nationals.
It is true that according to their law, one must search first for an employee within the EU to fit for the vacancy but with the ongoing crisis all over EU, it is not ideal to ruin the stability of the working force with EU countries they are supposed to recruit. Meaning, recruiting nurses from Poland, Spain, Portugal etc is not appropriate since they could produce a shortage from those countries which is why Philippines is now becoming a target of Belgium because of the large surplus of nurses we have here. And with our case, our recruitment agency would have to appeal from the Belgian government for us to be given our work permits since no one from the EU is highly or likely to be eligible given in their situation right now. This might be the same case from previous group of Filipino nurses who were recruited to Belgium before.

Come to think of it, there is still the possibility that this news might be real. If there really is an ongoing negotiations and talks with our country and Belgium then it would not be hard for filipino nurses to enter Belgium for future recruitments.

Belgium eyed as market for PH nurses

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