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Scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have uncovered a new function for BRCA1, a gene most commonly associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. Working on mouse cells in the lab, they discovered that BRCA1 suppresses the expression of another gene that codes for a microRNA called miR-155, which is known to be cancer causing. These findings, published online Sept. 25, 2011, in Nature Medicine suggest that BRCA1 functions as a tumor suppressor not only by playing a role in DNA repair, as known previously, but also by silencing a gene that can cause cancer when over-expressed. When the scientists inactivated miR-155 in tumor cells in mice, it slowed down the growth of tumors. If the BRCA1-associated tumors are confirmed to be dependent upon miR-155, it may be possible to treat hereditary cancers by challenging them with agents that can inactivate mir-155.

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THE Department of Labor and Employment yesterday made it clear there is no wholesale displacement of Filipino nurses in Saudi Arabia.

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz belied the report of Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona that around 130,000 to 150,000 OFW nurses in Saudi Arabia are facing loss of employment as the new phase of Saudi labor localization known as Nitaqat, commences.

“I have already directed our Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh to check the veracity of the alleged plan of the Saudi Ministry of Health. The Department of Labor and Employment maintains that there is no wholesale displacement of OFW nurses in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as Migrante paints in the Philippine media,” Baldoz said.

The labor chief further said that the POLO has reported that the Ministry of Health will terminate the contracts of foreign nurses who have completed 10 years of service but will retain specialists in the fields of hemodialysis, emergency, and ICU medicine.

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THE Philippine Embassy in Switzerland is looking into the possibility of opening doors for Filipino healthcare workers to Switzerland to address the problem of oversupply of Filipino nurses in the Philippines.

In this relation, a bilateral working group met in Manila under the auspices of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to discuss the procedures on how a bigger number of Filipino trainees could avail of the training program in Switzerland.

The embassy is studying how Filipino healthcare workers can work in Swiss hospitals by starting as trainees.

As this develops, two Filipino trainees of Swiss company APM Technica, Shera Cardinal and Rianne Cabiao, called on Ambassador Leslie J. Baja at the embassy in Berne on September 9.

APM Technica is a full-service adhesive and surface technology provider and has a facility in the Philippine Economic Zone in Cabuyao, Laguna.

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Unemployed Filipino nurses should opt for entrepreneurial opportunities such as setting up clinics and small pharmacies, the government said on Sunday, noting the current oversupply of nurses.

“Our vision for our unemployed nurses is not only for them to have productive wage employment. Operating and managing their own nursing clinics also offers sustainable income," said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

Baldoz noted that the global financial turmoil, particularly in the US and the United Kingdom, has resulted in the limited hiring of foreign nurses, including those from the Philippines.

In a recent briefing, Ofelia Domingo, Labor director in the CARAGA region, boasted of 25 Surigao del Norte nurses who had decided to set up their own “entreprenurse" clinics. These nurses worked for six months under the Nurses Assigned in Rural Service (NARS) program by the Department of Labor and Employment and Department of Health.

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MANILA, Philippines – At least 150,000 Filipino nurses in Saudi Arabia might lose their jobs after the labor localization policy, known as Nitaqat, enters a new phase, according to a migrant workers' rights group.

Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator John Monterona said Saudi’s Ministry of Health (MoH) has already announced a plan to localize nursing jobs in all its medical facilities.

Reports said Saudi’s MoH issued a circular to all its administrative units indicating that employment contracts with foreign nurses, who have already worked for 10 years, will be terminated to give way to the employment of newly graduate Saudi nurses.

“Though it is a bad news to our Filipino nurses, we are quite certain that Saudi’s MoH plan of replacing 10-year in-service foreign nurses is in line of the Nitaqat that entered its new phase of implementation,” Monterona said.

Last week, Saudi’s Ministry of Labor had announced that the Nitaqat enters new phase of implementation last Saturday, September 10.

Monterona said the replacement of foreign nurses by local Saudi nurses will not be abrupt, termination is already occurring in government-run hospitals and clinics.

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Redwood City, CA - The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of unemployed persons (13.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.1 percent) have not changed much in 2011. In response to the hard economic times and the financial difficulties that many are still experiencing, ABS CBN Foundation International, in cooperation with the Philippine Nurses Association of Northern California, Inc., will be offering Sagip Kapamilya Sa America Nursing Assistant Scholarship Training Program through the Concord-based American College of Nursing, now in its third year. The program, catering to the recently unemployed, is now accepting applications. The program will run from October 1 to December 2011. To apply online, visit www.americancollegeofnursing.com/sagipkapamilya.

Sagip Kapamilya sa America is a continuing campaign, focused on providing direct assistance to U.S.-based Filipino Americans. With a continued job loss and lack of employment opportunities in the San Francisco Bay Area, the program offers fifteen free scholarships towards a Certified Nursing Assistant’s (CNA) license. A CNA license, which can be obtained following a two-month training period, can help open doors for immediate employment in the healthcare and convalescent care industries. It is also a stepping stone towards higher education opportunities leading to a degree as Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs) and Registered Nurses (RN).

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BRIGHTON, UK – Teodoro “Jun Jun” Medran Jr. arrived in the United Kingdom in 1999 with a dream to become a successful nurse. Like many first-time overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), he was anxious about being in a foreign country, uncertain of what lay ahead.

He started working as a healthcare assistant at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals (BSUH). Thirteen years later, Medran is still in the same place but he has worked his way up to become a clinical site manager who supervises employees across five hospitals in the southern coastal city. The hospitals reportedly treat over three quarters of a million patients each year.

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MANILA, Philippines - Looking for a job? Why not apply for one in the government, the country’s biggest employer.

The bureaucracy has job openings totaling more than 93,000 this year and next year, according to budget documents submitted to the House appropriations committee by Budget Secretary Florencio Abad.

It will recruit nurses, teachers, policemen, auditors, lawyers, judges, firemen, soldiers and doctors, among other personnel.

Based on the documents, there are at present 67,132 vacant positions

in various agencies waiting to be filled by agency heads. There are funds for these jobs in this year's budget and in the proposed P1.8-trillion 2012 spending program.

Additionally, there are funds in next year's budget for the hiring of 13,000 new teachers, 12,000 new nurses, 200 doctors, and 1,021 midwives.

The basic pay in government is not bad and is already comparable to the salary in the private sector. The hiring rate for a public school teacher, for instance, is about P15,000, excluding allowances.

The Department of Education has the biggest number of vacant positions with 31,294. This is on top of the 13,000 new teachers it is authorized to hire next year.

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The Philippine government is proud of the Filipino nurses who chose to remain in strife-torn Libya to render humanitarian assistance there, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Raul Hernandez said on Wednesday.

“In a way we are very proud also of them because they have made their commitments to their profession and to help in emergency humanitarian assistance in that country," Hernandez said in an interview on dwIZ radio.

Hernandez’s statement came a day after the Philippine government said it was recognizing the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) as the “legitimate representative of the Libyan people."

On Tuesday, the DFA said in a statement that the Philippines hopes the transitional council will lead Libya toward peace and stability.

"The Philippines and Libya share a history of excellent relations based on friendship, understanding, and mutual respect. The Philippines looks forward to working with the Libyan people in sustaining and enhancing this relationship," the statement said.

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