[File Photo]

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Doctor James Fong says he is not surprised that local nurses recruited to work in a hospital in American Samoa did not pass the National Council Licensing Examination in order to be certified as registered nurses.

The Permanent Secretary made the comments in light of an article that states that the American Samoa House Health Committee met and discussed the status of two out of the 21 nurses from Fiji who passed the NCLEX, or National Council Licensing Examination, to be certified as registered nurses.

It says three others who sat the exam at the end of last month did not pass and will make a second attempt in September, while the other 16 are still in the preparation phase and should be taking the exam at the end of September or early October.

Permanent Secretary for Health Doctor James Fong.

The article also says that American Samoa Community College nursing program head Lele Ah Mu Mageo told the committee that the recruitment of the nurses from Fiji was not done right from the start, and she feels this is the reason why the results have not been satisfactory.

However, Doctor Fong says local nurses are trained according to Fiji standards, and therefore they pass the requirement made by the Ministry of Health.

“We raise the standards according to the standards we need in Fiji, not the standards that America wants or the standards that Australia wants. We need to meet our needs, and that’s what we work on. It’s not a difference in standards; it’s a difference in what we need, so we train our nurses according to what we need.”

Doctor Fong says the requirement by American Samoa’s health regulatory body is that they sit for another examination that is relevant to the USA.

The Fiji Nursing Association has refused to make any comments.