There an MD, here an RN

DR. Elmer Reyes Jacinto may be the most well known Filipino medical doctor in the Philippines today. But tomorrow, he may be the most well known Filipino registered nurse in the US.

Dr. Jacinto is well known for having scored 86.75, topping the field of 1,825 examinees who took the most recent medical board exams. But he became most well known when on February 29, he announced his plan to work as a registered nurse in a New York hospital. His announcement ignited a maelstrom of controversy.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer immediately blasted Dr. Jacinto in its March 4th editorial:

"THE TOPNOTCHER of the recent board exams for medical graduates makes no bones about his target: big bucks. He means to make his pile as a nurse in the United States, where the demand for nurses is such that Filipinos with a nursing degree are heading there literally in droves. He notes that nursing jobs in the land of plenty command "six-digit" monthly salaries in Philippine pesos, earnings that, he says, have left his former classmates now settled and working there "fully satisfied" and convinced that "it's really worth it."

"And he epitomizes a poignant twist in the Filipino quest for employment overseas, a "trend," he calls it: physicians returning to school to acquire the precious nursing degree that would equip them to join the foreign legion now laboring in US hospitals. (It's said that certain medical schools have put up special sections for such "students," the point apparently being that they are quite apart from those who come in cold.)..."

"This is what we have come to in this country of our afflictions, where young, bright offspring of middle-class professionals, yet unencumbered by the challenges of life, throw in the towel before even putting up a fight. What a sellout."

Many Filipino doctors wrote letters to the editor defending Dr. Jacinto. Dr. Atenodoro Ruiz, for one, questioned the double standard where "overseas Filipino contract workers in the Middle East and Hong Kong have been declared "heroes" of the Philippine economy, while doctors who leave our shores for better opportunities are denounced as "selfish and unpatriotic."

"The reason for the career shift from a doctor of medicine in the Philippines to a registered nurse abroad is obviously similar, although not as humbling. For some of our colleagues, it is the answer to the financial woes and unstable future confronting their families. Some of them are very positive that this job will also serve as an entry point and stepping stone to later serving as physician assistants or licensed doctors abroad."

At the oath-taking ceremony for new Philippine medical doctors held in Manila on April 16, Dr. Jacinto told the press that he was determined to pursue his plan despite all the public criticism. "I've set my mind and heart on it, he said.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, the keynote speaker at the induction, commented that Dr. Jacinto's case represented a "terrible indictment of the state of our society, where very competent professionals, young and adventurous, would feel the need to take another course to escape dire conditions. We cannot blame him, but still, it's a sad commentary on the state of our society."

At that same event, Philippine Medical Association President Dr. Jose T. Sanchez defended Dr. Jacinto's decision as "definitely an inherent right of an individual (to pursue) self-preservation and economic security (Jacinto's story) should remind our lawmakers and national officials to give the best opportunity to those left behind and who have continuing faith in the system, by improving working conditions for our health care workers and not creating a hostile environment (for them)," he said.

Lost in all the brouhaha about Dr. Jacinto's decision is the inspiring story of his triumph against overwhelming odds, growing up in the war-ravaged town of Lamitan, Basilan. Through elementary school and high school, he studied by the light of a kerosene lamp and attended classes that would often be disrupted by gunfire.

Young Jacinto went to college at nearby Western Mindanao State University in Zamboanga City, where he finished cum laude in nursing.

Nurse Jacinto then returned to Lamitan to work in the same hospital where Abu Sayyaf terrorist bandits would later kidnap hostages for ransom, including his co-worker, nurse Edibora (Ate Debbie")Yap. It was his Ate Debbie who encouraged him to go to medical school and who was later killed during rescue operations of American hostages Martin and Gracia Burnham in 2002.

By then, Jacinto was already in medical school having been accepted at the Our Lady of Fatima University's College of Medicine in Valenzuela City, Bulacan province, where he was to graduate magna cum laude.

Jacinto's parents are retired public school teachers who live in a village in Basilan that gets water from an artesian well and electricity "only about one day a week." They support his decision to work as nurse in the US rather than as a doctor in the Philippines. "Almost all the brightest students in our village have taken up nursing, knowing the high demand for it abroad. Their families have become better off because of them," he said.

The Inquirer "sellout" editorial touched a raw nerve with overseas Filipinos who vented their rage in Internet forums.

One anonymous OFW e-mailed the Inquirer with an indignant response:

"We resent your calling a Filipino who chooses to stake out his own future in a foreign land a 'sellout.' How easy it is for you to say that, you in your comfortable chair in your comfortable office cubicle! Have you ever gone to a foreign land to work as an entry-level employee, struggling upwards against an oh-so-subtle but ever-present current of discrimination as a "second-class citizen"? Have you ever worked 12 long hours on your feet, answering to the needs and demands of multilingual, multicultural patients, only to come home to have to cook your own meals, do your own laundry, throw your own trash before you throw your tired, aching body to bed and wake up 5 or 6 hours later to put in another long day at work?

"Have you ever fought fatigue, loneliness, homesickness, and despair all at once, and then have to present a brave voice to the people back home: 'Yes, Mama, I'm all right here. The pay is good, Papa. Opo, I will send 300 dollars on my next payday so you can go to the doctor to have your heart checked and buy your medicine. Ingat po kayo.' And then burst to tears when you put down the phone, the loneliness gripping your heart so tight you almost can't breath, wishing you were back home, but a ticket back will cost another 900 dollars... better to send it home so that your parents can pay for the doctor, your pamangkins can go to school, your aging lolo can buy his medicine...

"Do you really think millions of unemployed or underemployed hungry young doctors and nurses languishing in poverty will be good for the country's economy and future?

"... You have deeply, deeply insulted us overseas Filipinos by branding someone who wants to work abroad a 'sellout.' But despite this, we will continue working, continue fighting, continue sending money home so that our families can have better lives, and our children, siblings, and even relatives to the nth degree can have better educations and better futures. Someday we hope to come back home to our beloved Philippines, to start businesses, open schools, create jobs for our fellow Filipinos -- all with our hard-earned, hard-fought dollars/euros/dinars. Even then, we will continue to shore up the economy of our country, fight for its future the best we can..."

Dr. Jacinto, you did not throw in the towel and you are still putting up a fight. Whether as an MD or as an RN, we welcome you to America.

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