By FILAM STAR STAFF
WASHINGTON – The Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT) reaffirmed Monday, July 19, the suspension of National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) testing for all graduates of schools located in Egypt, India, Pakistan and the Philippines.
The decision of the FSBPT’s board of directors, in effect, throws out the appeal for reconsideration from the affected countries of the July 11 decision to suspend state board testing from the four countries until new tests called NPTE-YRLY can be developed by the latter part of next year.
“The Board has directed staff to develop the [new set of exams] as quickly as possible,” said the FSBPT in its website.
But such tests will not be available until the latter part of 2011, dealing a severe blow for thousands of Filipino PTs in the Philippines and those who are already here who cannot take the necessary U.S. accreditation to practice in America.
India, the Philippines and China are the largest suppliers of foreign-trained physical therapists for the United States.
Industry sources said that until the ban is lifted or new exams become available, graduates from schools in the Philippines and the other affected countries will not be allowed to take the U.S. examinations.
The FSBPT said the ban was triggered by “ongoing security breaches by significant numbers of graduates of physical therapy schools from certain foreign countries.”
Two years ago, the FSBPT stopped giving exams in accredited test centers abroad. The July 19 action now forbids the exams from being offered in the United States to all graduates of Egyptian, Indian, Pakistani, and Philippine schools.
FSBPT said it found “compelling” evidence that reflects what it called “systematic and methodical sharing and distribution of recalled questions by significant numbers of graduates of programs in the affected countries, as well as by several exam preparation companies specifically targeted to these graduates.”
The FSBPT said their findings came about after “extensive forensic analyses of exam performances.”
They cited the police raid on the St. Louis Review Center in Manila in 2007, during which alleged evidence of an exam leakage was found.
They FSBPT contend that “sale and sharing of recalled test questions extends beyond this single test preparation company.”
Philippine Labor Attaché Luzviminda Padilla said at the Philippine Embassy here that they are seeking a meeting with FSBPT officials to get to the bottom of the test ban.
Padilla assured full cooperation by the Philippine government in safeguarding the integrity of the state board exams.
“We want to tell them what we’re doing on our side to address the issues they have raised,” she explained.
In Manila, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has mobilized various agencies, including the National Bureau of Investigation, to act on the issues raised by FSBPT.
“Hopefully if they see that we are taking strong actions, they might be convinced to reconsider their decision,” Padilla said.
Narciso Sison, a license physical therapist from the Philippines working in New York City said the ban “is a black eye” on Filipino PTs as a whole.
The supposed leakage may have been an isolated case, Sison surmised, but the damage affects every Filipino PT professional.
“This is a dark day for us,” Sison said by phone to FilAm Star. “Those who have booked to take the exams will have to wait a year, maybe more. All their preparations, hard work and expense are certainly going down the drain.”
Philippine Labor Department data indicate that from 2007 to 2009, at least 1,300 Filipino PTs were deployed to the U.S.
Such deployment will suffer a blow as the stigma of the ban affects Pinoy PTs being processed for employment and those still seeking jobs in America, Sison said.
Despite the current problem, Sison told FAS that the demand for Filipino physical therapists and PT assistants remains high because of the professionalism, competence, and caring nature of these health workers.
Licensed and experienced PTs earn $100,000 annually in America, which partly explains the desire of Philippine-trained therapists to take the long, often costly, wait to get accredited here by taking the state board exams.
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