THE number of Philippine-educated nurses that took the US licensure exam for the first time in 2022 was the highest in 14 years, Quezon City Rep. Marvin Rillo said.

The vice chairman of the Committee on Higher and Technical Education of the House of Representatives said that 18,617 nursing graduates from the Philippines took the US licensure examination for the first time in 2022, in hopes of practicing their profession in America.

“In 2022, we had the highest number of Philippine-educated nurses taking the NCLEX in 14 years, in terms of first-time takers,” Rillo said on Sunday, citing figures from the US National Council of State Boards of Nursing Inc. (USNCSBN).

The USNCSBN administers the National Council Licensure Examination, or the NCLEX, for registered nurses in America.

The 18,617 represents a surge of 90 percent compared to the 9,788 Filipino nursing graduates that took the NCLEX for the first time in 2021, without counting repeaters, Rillo said.

“The number of Philippine nursing graduates taking the NCLEX for the first time is a reliable indicator as to how many of them are eagerly looking for employment in America,” he added.

Rillo renewed his call for Congress to allot more compensation funding to retain Filipino nurses in public hospitals and to discourage some of them from leaving the country.

The lawmaker has batted for the passage of House Bill 5276, which seeks to boost by 75 percent or from P36,619 to P63,997 the lowest pay base of nurses employed by the government.

Under Rillo’s bill, the minimum base pay of nurses in public health institutions would be raised by six notches to Salary Grade 21.

Meanwhile, the latest numbers from the USNCSBN show that 4,318 nursing graduates from India also took the NCLEX for the first time in 2022, along with 1,816 graduates from South Korea.

There were 1,326 nurses educated in Puerto Rico and 1,264 nurses schooled in Nigeria also took the NCLEX for the first time last year, along with 540 nurses trained in Kenya.