Author Topic: Child of the Sun: Demons and Doctors (Read 5334 times)

grazie7y · « **on:** September 05, 2009, 01:59:37 PM »

About the author:

Dr. Jose "Ting" M. Tiongco, chief executive officer of the Medical Mission Group Hospitals and Health Services Cooperative- Philippines Federation, writes a column, Child of the Sun, for MindaNews. He is author of two books, "Child of the Sun Returning" (1996) and "Surgeons Do Not Cry" (2008). The second book is available at UP bookstore, National bookstore and MindaNews

For more info about Dr. Ting Tiongco, please see other thread, per link below:

http://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=21391.0

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

grazie7y · « **Reply #1 on:** September 05, 2009, 02:07:05 PM »

His article for mindanews.com dated July 26, 2009, sub-titled: Health Care Ethics

-- The problems of health care delivery in the Philippines are tremendous and overwhelming. Traditionally, the sector that bears the brunt of these problems has been the so-called Health Care Benefactors: doctors, nurses and those engaged in allied medical professions. And the venue for the health services given by these Benefactors has been traditionally the Hospital.It is not openly acknowledged, or is conveniently forgotten that Health is a multi-sectoral concern. What is a doctor, as a Health Benefactor and guardian of the health of his community, to do if 30% of the population of the Philippines does not have access to potable water and he treats the same water borne diseases year after year on the same patients (if they survive that particular year).What is he supposed to do when 80% of the children in the community are malnourished for lack of protein intake and prone to the diseases that come with lack of adequate food?What is he going to do if about 70% of his patients do not have proper shelter and suffer from tuberculosis and pneumonia and the other attendant diseases coupled with human congestion?What is he going to do if 75% of his patients cannot afford his services or the treatment that he prescribes?The answer is simple.He packs his bags and leaves for the USA where his 15-year training as a hospital specialist is more appreciated and paid beyond his wildest dreams in the Philippines. There he enjoys wallowing in relative wealth until his later years when he discovers that he is a cultural cripple. Neither completely American nor completely Filipino -carrying on a daily running battle at home with his overachieving completely American children who do not understand the third-world culture he grew up in and still harbors inside his heart(unconsciously indicated by his atrocious accent and archaic vocabulary).But that is small price to pay for what he would have experienced in the Philippines if he were made of more patriotic stuff and had chosen to stay: Exploitation.The first to manipulate him would be the transnational drug companies.Even in his internship year, when he has just begun to write prescription medicines, the drug companies are already hot and heavy on his trail. They bribe him with commissions on each capsule that he prescribes. They shower him with little colorful plastic ball pens and doodads. They treat him to sumptuous meals and little snacks. They sponsor sports fests and bowling tournaments and drinking sessions.They tempt him with leggy, sexy med reps. During residency, they sponsor training trips for him abroad. All in exchange for prescribing their brutally high priced medicines.The exploitation goes even more high gear in private practice. Here the med reps take notes of how many patients he has and classify the doctors along the number of patients he/she sees a day and the number of prescriptions he/she makes; Grade A, being the highest. And the perks become more or less depending on his level of classification.The perks become heavier: cars, appliances, shopping trips to the malls, medical equipment and yearly trips abroad to attend specialty conferences, even training seminars. If he is a sub-specialist and practicing in Manila, they sponsor lecture tours in the provinces to bolster his reputation as well as sell their high priced drugs.The run of the mill doctor in the provinces gets a yearly airplane ticket to Manila to attend the various specialty conferences and a free four-day stay in a five star hotel. If he has a good practice(Grade A), he will probably be fetched at the airport by an unfortunate medical representative bearing his name on a piece of cardboard, who together with his car, is assigned to him on a 24 hour basis. This med rep is responsible for the doctor's entertainment during his entire stay and even for the procurement of female company,if the doctor so desires.The transnational drug companies end up not only controlling his prescriptions, but also controlling his practice and his way of life.The medical practitioner consoles himself in his serfdom by saying that if it was not him, it would be another doctor, probably his competitor practitioner who would get the perks.But the doctor is only too aware that whatever he gets from the drug company, whether plastic ball pen or the attention of an attractive med rep or free trips abroad, is eventually charged to the price ofthe drugs he is supposed to prescribe. He is aware that these drugs are viciously priced and the full course of the treatment is beyond the reach of the ordinary patient in his clinic. He is aware that after paying the full course of the medicines in the hospital, the patient and his family may have no more to spare for his professional fee. He is aware that in the end he is the loser in this game.But he does not care. He is addicted to the perks. His professional pride feeds on the obsequious bowing and scraping of the med reps who do weekly pilgrimages to his clinic and whom he bullies for more services and threatens with boycotts of their products if he does notget what he demands; never mind if the med reps glide out of the hospital parking lot with big smiles on their faces driving their new sleek Toyotas while the doctor sputters out of hospital grounds in his battered Volkswagen of the last millennium's vintage. A medical representative supervisor triumphantly told me once, "No sir, we do not just buy the doctor. We also take his soul along with the deal!"And it is true. If the doctor would only realize how the med reps he routinely bullies hold him and the entire medical profession in contempt! How sad. How very diabolically sad.Yet there is still another devil around the corner.But we would deal with this demon in the next article.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

grazie7y · « **Reply #2 on:** September 05, 2009, 02:10:30 PM »

Column dated 12 August 2009 for mindanews:

"The problem of medical economics is part of the problem of world economics and is inseparable and indivisible from it. Medicine, as we are practicing it today, is a luxury trade. We are selling bread for the price of jewels. The poor who comprise 80% of our population cannot pay and starve; the doctors cannot sell and suffer. The people have no health protection and the doctors, no economic security."

I wish I said that.

But they were said more than 70 years ago by Dr. Henry Norman Bethune, a brilliant Canadian Thoracic Surgeon, painter, poet, inventor, originator of the first MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital), and dedicated teacher to those who worked alongside this indefatigable person. He died on November 13, 1939 in North China, fighting for his ideals in Mao Tse Tungâ€™s army against the invading imperial Japanese army.

But what he said then is still very true today. Perhaps even truer. Especially in the Philippines.

This is because, even in those times, institutions had already placed themselves between the doctor and his patient; and they were already laughing all the way to their banks.

There was a time when the only person who stood beside the doctor in his clinic, other than the nurse, was his pharmacist, who compounded the galenicals, medicines that the doctor tailor-fitted for his patient. And these medicines were the cheapest and most effective, being customized for the individual patient.

Then the drug industry came and erased all this with mass produced medications that they advertised as more accurate, more convenient, more hygienic, more scientific, and more effective. They were also more expensive, which really makes it a bit strange because mass manufactured goods are supposed to be cheaper than customized items.

But greed, reflected by the unethical marketing practices on the doctors by the drug companies placed these medicines out of the reach of the average patient.

So into this breach, sprang in the next demon: The Health Insurance. Or his even more evil brother the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO). The HMOs, being pre-need companies, are not under the control of the usual insurance laws that protect the insured from undue exploitation.

The concept of sharing risks and resources are as old as tribal Man himself. A tribe develops when a group of people band together to meet their needs collectively for the better survival of the most number of people. And sharing of resources is the best way to the satisfaction of an individualâ€™s needs and survival of the many in a community.

And it is not surprising that Jesusâ€™ second miracle was about sharing. When five thousand Jews followed Him up a mountain in the hope of seeing Him rain manna from heaven, He shamed them into sharing their hastily packed meager lunches by showing them a little boy who was willing to share his five loaves and two fishes with the multitude.

Indeed when everybody had eaten his fill, there were still 12 baskets of food left over. It was not the Miracle of Multiplication. It was the Miracle of Division. Sharing what little you have willingly with the rest.

But this is not the same as Health Insurance; because with the HMO, the Devil now stands between the Good and the Multitude. And instead of offering security and survival, the Demon is selling Fear. The Fear of the inevitable illness when one is in the prime productive period of his life. And when oneâ€™s productive life is over, the poor individual is culled or deselected from the rest; left without any hope of affording health care exactly at the time he needs it most: his old age.

This fear of illness and disability and the subsequent inability to work and be productive for his/her family, sends the individual into panic; because he knows that a certain number of industrial illnesses lead to slow incapacitation and chronicity. So he grabs at the juiciest (and most expensive) package the Demon dangles. But when he discovers that he does not get as sick as he feared, he feels cheated. So he decides to cheat back and malingers. This is aided and abetted by the health benefactor, the doctor, who discovers that he suddenly has lost his private practice to the HMO and is actually working as its casual employee. He gets paid by the piece (patient) and his fees are predetermined by the HMO.

The Demon gets back at both of them by deselecting the chronically ill patients (woe to those who do not malinger!) and slashing the doctorsâ€™ and the hospital fees.

The hospitals, when they find their fees slashed, get into the cheating fray by padding their bills. And they do it with gusto because the HMOs and especially the PhilHealth (Medicare) do not pay their bills on time. Sometimes, if not often, particularly when the government needs money to foot the bill for some high officialsâ€™ junkets abroad or his/her reelection expenses, PhilHealth postpones payment for a year or two. With no consideration for cost of money. This is a supreme example of cheating disguised as bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo. And this has been one of the main reasons for the collapse of quite a number of smaller hospitals in the countryside. Those that really serve the less fortunate.

And so a real vicious cycle, a downward spiral occurs. The Germans call it the Teufelskreis, the Devilâ€™s Circle that goes straight down to hell.

There are no little boys with five loaves and two fishes out there anymore.

There are only Demons fighting each other for a better hold.

And even Obama, the Savior of the Universe, is still in limbo. Neither black nor white.

Not even gray.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

Raquelproud boholana · « **Reply #3 on:** September 05, 2009, 10:51:50 PM »

Nice article Grace unya na ta mag discuss ha kay medyo busy pa hehehhe.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

ms da binsi · « **Reply #4 on:** September 05, 2009, 11:00:07 PM »

ako sad naa pa ko sa tunga tunga! ako jud ni basahon kay i like Tiongco.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

Lorenzo · « **Reply #5 on:** September 07, 2009, 02:03:52 AM »

Thank you for this article, Ate Ging.

My response to this article is mostly analytical and in sympathetic towards the medical providers: namely, the Physician/Surgeon, Nurses and other allied health professionals.

The statistics provided in this article is staggering, the lack of medical providers and the malnourished peoples in the country suffering from Merasmus, Kwashiorkor syndromes and other malnourished states a result of deficiency in protein-based meals.

However, instead of putting the blame on the medical care provider and his 'unholy alliance' to the pharmaceutical companies and the drug reps, there should be conspicuous analysis on the health management of the country. The country, referring to the Philippines, is experiencing a population boom, and considering the medical establishment is unable to care and provide the necessary care for the rural population, then the most strategic initiative would be to increase medical school acceptance rates, or creation of more nursing and medical schools in the Philippines.

Fine. So let's say, hypothetically the country graduates more physicians/surgeons out of medical school--now how is the establishment going to keep them from migrating abroad? Incentive. Incentive. Everything in this world works in financial incentive, as well as professional codets. A physician's role is to provide medical care to those in need, and also who can provide for the physician. Afterall the life and the procurement of a Medical Doctorate is not an easy task. 4 years undergraduate studies (BS, B.A) and then 4 rigorous years of Medical Schooling, and when that is finished, another 3-4 years of medical residency, and then another additional 3-4 years for medical fellowship.

Lets be practical, who pays for medical education? Is it cheap? Of course not. Medical School is quite expensive (in the United States and abroad). We are looking at an education that costs the student and his/her family close to $200,000 + by the time he finishes. Or in the Philippines, close to $1-2 million pesos worth of education. Now who will pay for the loans?

Financial incentive drives everything, especially in this globalized market and society that we live in.

The Physician immigrates to greener pastures so that he or she canprovide for his or her own family, his or her own needs. We afterall live in a realistic world. It is fine to be idealistic at times, sure.

The Medical Health System in the Philippines needs to increase the wages of the physicians/nurses if they wish to seriously keep their medical professionals within the country. But in dealing with medical immigration abroad, this will be phenomenon that will continue, so long as there is a demand for resources. It follows the economic laws of 'Laissez Faire'. On the notion of free market economics and the millieu of Supply and Demand.

As we speak there are over 180,000+ Filipino Nurses in the United States. Over 20,000 Filipino Physician/Surgeons. Most of them migrated here due to the economic hardships in the Philippies, and the innate need to look for greener pastures. Its a humanistic trait, a humanistic and realistic incentive. hehe

----

In regards to Tiongco's writings about the medical drug reps, that may be a problem in the PHilippines, but here in the United States, that is not so much a reality anymore.

New Laws have prohibited the bribery of physicians and they are now not allowed to give tickets, or expense-free medical sabatticals abroad or around the country. New laws that prohibit such were passed during the Bush Administration.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

Lorenzo · « **Reply #6 on:** September 08, 2009, 03:47:14 PM »

In regards to the 2nd article.

My response:

Don't blame the doctor, blame the HMO that puts rules and limitations in what a doctor can and cannot do.

A Physician must comply with the established laws and regulations, lest he or she looses his / her medical license. If he/ she violates these regulations, he / she is liable to legal action.

Which, am sure, the lawyers in their voracious appetite for medical malpractice, will 'attack'.

Best to see it in another perspective.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

Lorenzo · « **Reply #7 on:** September 08, 2009, 03:53:59 PM »

Addendum:

A physician-surgeon has 2 enemies:
1. Death, his primordial foe.
2. The Lawyer (the medical malpractice lawyer).

Some of these lawyers are unreasonable. There is no 'cap' to medical malpractice.
Lawyers are getting richer, while the medical work force (especially our doctors) are suffering and forced to play a defensive role in medicine.

hehehe you know how much is spent in medical defense attorneys?
Over 100 billion dollars a year is spent by doctors to defend themselves from other lawyers.

And they wonder why medical health care is so expensive these days.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

statesville · « **Reply #8 on:** September 09, 2009, 02:30:59 PM »

Grazie thank you for posting this info,
   it's very relevant of today's
   ongoing issue with the Healthcare
   that Obama is trying to push down into
   the throat of every citizens in this country.

Way back during the Clinton's administration,
   his wife Hillary attempted to make Health
   care universal just like Canada, UK, and
   other countries in Europe but she failed
   the people especially the retired senior citizens
   opposed it.

Now, the current administration is working
  hard to accomplish their goal with the Healthcare.
  Sa tinood lang, dili para sa mga tawo ang ilang
  giapas kon dili ang kwarta, even the AMA is for it, whoa!
  Five pharmaceutical companies are with it, already
  busy projecting how many billions they will make kon madayon
  ni nga project.

Ang atong mga doctors, dentists, anybody who
   are in the health care professions wala
   nay kagawasan nga mofunction tungod kay
   ang gobyerno na mauy mohatag ug guidelines
   unsay ilang buhaton, pila ka pasyente ilang atimanon
   ana nga shift, etc.
Kon dili mo motuo, then wait and see, kay ang tres
  amigos nagmeeting na humana didto sa mexico.

Lord have mercy on us.


Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

Lorenzo · « **Reply #9 on:** September 10, 2009, 12:46:22 AM »

I do feel for the American Citizen and those who are uninsured. I believe that every American (poor, middle class, wealthy) should have affordable medical care and insurance appropriated for them. But I am TOTALLY against government telling what a physician can and cannot do. And totally against government choosing what health insurance a citizen can have and cannot have. I want to make my own decisions am not comfortable in letting a beaurocracy making my decisions for me.

Totally against complete socialized medical provision.

Individuals should have the right to choose, and not government telling or bequething what citizens can and cannot do.

In the end, I will not be surprised if they settle for a dual system.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

grazie7y · « **Reply #10 on:** September 12, 2009, 07:32:01 AM »

Nice article Grace unya na ta mag discuss ha kay medyo busy pa hehehhe.

ako sad naa pa ko sa tunga tunga! ako jud ni basahon kay i like Tiongco.

mag discuss ra ta adtong iyang Surgeons Do Not Cry but mag review sa ko. Maring I will send you next week your copy so you can also review.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

grazie7y · « **Reply #11 on:** September 12, 2009, 07:35:22 AM »

To Statesville and Dodong Bran,

Thanks a lot for your input guys and especially coming from you who are in the medical fields.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

grazie7y · « **Reply #12 on:** September 12, 2009, 07:36:52 AM »

CHILD OF THE SUN: Demons and Doctors (3), By Ting Tiongco
by Ting Tiongco/MindaNews
Sunday, 23 August 2009 07:50

DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/22 August) â€“

A lawyer, an engineer and an agriculturist go up to heaven for their just rewards.

At the pearly gates, they meet St. Peter who acknowledges their right to enter heaven but remands them to the side while he is waiting for a very important person to arrive.

Soon, a doctor appears, apparently shortly after his surgery. He is dressed in a scrub
suit and is still wearing his surgical cap. His surgical mask is pushed down his chin, and he
is smoking a cigarette with relish.

He ambles through the pearly gates, blows a cloud of smoke, flicks his cigarette away, and waves to St. Peter, who is bowing very low to him.

â€œYo, Pete!â€ the doctor calls, â€œHow ya doinâ€™?â€

And without waiting for a reply, he disappears into heavenâ€™s interior.

The lawyer is aghast.

â€œWho the hell does that doctor think he is, anyway?â€ he demands, â€œGOD?!?â€

St. Peter reddens and puts his finger to his lips.

â€œShhh! Not so loud!â€ he whispers, â€œSometimes, HE thinks HEâ€™s a doctor!â€

This little joke illustrates the high regard the doctor has in the community. So high that even God himself sometimes plays doctor. And it stands to reason. Jesus could not have been as effective if he confined his miracles merely to provide wine and food for the people. He had to cure the sick.

Because physical illness is often associated with evil and demons. That is why priests and pastors, representing God since past history up to the present time, go around casting out demons from sick people and are followed by multitudes seeking to be cured and even in some cases, brought back to life!

But nobody, not even the priest or pastor, prepares for this role longer and more intensively (and painfully) than the doctor.

Medical courses in more prestigious universities are open only to the crÃ¨me de la crÃ¨me of all college graduates. Only the Best and the Brightest. And the entire process of graduating a doctor takes 10 long years, the longest professional course ever. And the most expensive.

And one of the more sad things about a Medical School graduate is that when politicians in congress want to earn pogi points with their voters, they pass a law requiring him to render rural service from six months to one year. Without pay.

Incredible.

Congress never demanded this kind of service from the other university graduates. Not from the lawyers, from engineers, not even from the graduates of agricultural schools and the colleges of social service!

But after the totally confusing rural stint of this hospital-trained Medical School graduate, he is still considered a raw doctor. So he undergoes another four to five years of rigorous, rigid training in an accredited hospital for specialization. So the sleepless nights and the heavy readings continue even as they now have the responsibilities of saving (and losing) lives. Yet this 24 hour, 30 day job pays less than a lower management staff worker in a bank.

A doctorâ€™s pay scale is a curious thing. If some rich guy, like Zobel de Ayala or Manuel V. Pangilinan were to have emergency surgery for strangulated haemorrhoids and the surgeon charged him ten million pesos for that, he probably would yell bloody murder and accuse the poor chap of OVERCHARGING, even if his life depended on the operation. (How much are they worth, by the way?)

But he probably wonâ€™t utter a sigh or bat his lashes if he were charged the same amount by a lawyer who produces a legal document that earns him billions in return.

No wonder we lose 70 to 90% of our doctors.

The doctor is the most exploited professional in the Philippines even as he is eminently aware of his inherent worth. Yet he endures all this abuse and slavery without as much as a whimper.

Until he becomes a specialist, working in some lights-a-popping hospital in Manila or in other big cities in the Philippines.

Then he begins to show the horns that have been slowing growing on his head after all the years of hardship and exploitation he went through.

It is true what Rizal said, â€œLos esclavos de hoy, son los tiranos de manana.â€

The most abused slave can, at the blink of an eye, become the cruellest exploiter this side of purgatory.

And the demon-caster can easily become the Demon himself.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

Raquelproud boholana · « **Reply #13 on:** September 12, 2009, 12:27:16 PM »

Grazie thank you for posting this info,
   it's very relevant of today's
   ongoing issue with the Healthcare
   that Obama is trying to push down into
   the throat of every citizens in this country.

Way back during the Clinton's administration,
   his wife Hillary attempted to make Health
   care universal just like Canada, UK, and
   other countries in Europe but she failed
   the people especially the retired senior citizens
   opposed it.

Now, the current administration is working
  hard to accomplish their goal with the Healthcare.
  Sa tinood lang, dili para sa mga tawo ang ilang
  giapas kon dili ang kwarta, even the AMA is for it, whoa!
  Five pharmaceutical companies are with it, already
  busy projecting how many billions they will make kon madayon
  ni nga project.

Ang atong mga doctors, dentists, anybody who
   are in the health care professions wala
   nay kagawasan nga mofunction tungod kay
   ang gobyerno na mauy mohatag ug guidelines
   unsay ilang buhaton, pila ka pasyente ilang atimanon
   ana nga shift, etc.
Kon dili mo motuo, then wait and see, kay ang tres
  amigos nagmeeting na humana didto sa mexico.

Lord have mercy on us.

Thanks Stateville at least nalamdagan nimo akong hunahuna hehhehe.Mao ba diay ni abi nako okey ang healthcare system pareha sa Canada. Ug mauhon si Obama wala jud diay kalainan sa chicago politician. Pero sa akong opinion dapat jud ni solusyunan sa goberno diri ang mahal kaayong insurance nga maoy nakaangin daghan di na kafford mokuha ug insurance unya kita nga naay health insurance kita ang gisilutan kay the more way mga insurance ang ubang tawo the more pud magkadako atong bayran.
Murag sobra man pud mo charge ang doctor diri di na diniyos man ni hahahha. Dapat ang nurse ang dako ug sweldo kay maoy permi naa mag atiman sa pasyente ang doctor igo ra nimo molamano wa na dako na ug bayad.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=22230.0

grazie7y · « **Reply #14 on:** September 16, 2009, 02:14:10 AM »

HILD OF THE SUN: Demons and Doctors (4): The Ultimate.

by Ting Tiongco/MindaNews
Sunday, 30 August 2009 07:31
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/29 Aug) --

We all die.

Everybody knows that.

But before we die, we get sick. More often than not, we get very, very sick before we finally die.

As a matter of fact, between now and the time we die, we will probably get sick a few times. This is inevitable.

But nobody wants to prepare for that. People do not even want to consider it.
â€œLive like a King, die like a rat!â€ is the motto of most Filipinos. And indeed, everyday you will find them by the dozens dying away miserably in the emergency rooms and admitting sections of government hospitals in the country, bereft of money and the capacity to provide for the basic medications to treat their illnesses and prolong their lives.

Their very concerned and disconsolate family members and relatives cluster around them, each trying in his/her own way to help. They contact their rich relatives, their past and present employers, their political patrons, their parish priests, bishops, money lenders, etc for financial assistance.

Each one pulls out his/her cell phoneâ€¦

Aye and Aray! And there is the rub: The cell phone.

The average Filipino would rather spend for vices and the inessentials (like cell phones) rather than save for his health. He spends 8% of his income for liquor and cigarettes, more than 15 % for cell phone loads and only a measly 2% to save his life in case he gets very sick.

He is loathe to spend for his familyâ€™s health, preferring to ignore his babyâ€™s cough and use his money for his nightly bottle of gin rather than consult a doctor. Then a week later, he tearfully rushes the child to a charity hospital in the terminal throes of pneumonia.

The Filipinoâ€™s health needs must all be answered on an emergency basis:

A tricycle driver rushes his wife, nine months pregnant and in active labour, to the government hospital accompanied by the usual gaggle of relatives. As they carry her screaming to the labour room, he approaches the doctor.

He smells of alcohol and sucks on a cigarette as he begs.

â€œDok, tulungan nyo po kami... Manganganak na ang asawa ko. Wala kaming pera. Emergency lang po ito!â€

How is a doctor supposed to react to this?

Every person has a right to Health. But every right carries a corresponding Responsibility. And this is a responsibility that the Filipino chooses to ignore.

This is how the PhilHealth and the HMOs literally make a killing, if he is employed.

This is where he comes to grief, if he is under or unemployed. Because there just isnâ€™t enough money for his health needs.

But there is money for alcohol and cigarettes, or for lotto and jueteng. And he has been known to use his food budget just for cell phone loads.

The Demon in every Filipino leads him to forgo the most essential for the pitifully inessential in his daily range of priorities.

And when his baby dies in the emergency room due to his neglect and his incapacity to provide the necessary medicines, he blames everybody for it. And he directs most of his ire against the government.

â€œTal pueblo, tal gobierno!â€ Rizal said.

"Blame the Government, Blame yourself!" A people gets the government it deserves.

The Filipino has been described in so many unflattering ways: Indolent, Irresponsible, Immature, Incapable of postponing gratification, Short of attention span, Pleasure oriented, Wily, Shallow, Callow, Selfish, Clannish.

And for the Filipino to rely for his health needs on a Government that is at best described as inutile and at worst, predatory, may be called purely and simply stupid.

However, the Filipino may be so many things to so many people, but stupid, he is not. He may be confused culturally but he is an acutely intelligent person, capable of lightning insights and sudden heroic deeds.

So what could be the reason for the insane paradoxes in the countryâ€™s health situation?

A German once mentioned to me that perhaps the Filipino is lacking in Gemeinshaftsgefuehl. Roughly translated, it means a feeling of community belongingness, outside of his clan.

I did mention to her that without the Gemeinshaftsgefuehl the Filipinos showed in fighting the Japanese in the Second World War, the entire South East Asia all the way down to Australia would still be speaking Japanese.

And I could not resist mentioning that the First People Power that everybody in the world admired and never yet equalled was a spectacular example of Gemeinshaftsgefuehl.

She smiled and said that very well fitted the Filipinoâ€™s penchant for the spectacular. But spectacles come few and far between. What was needed was an everyday example of Gemeinshaftsgefuehl. Like not throwing your garbage in your neighbourâ€™s yard, even if no one is looking and you can get away with it.

It is true.

And perhaps, we should all be little boys, offering our five loaves and two fishes to our communities. Every day.

That would kill the Demon in us.

That would show the world what a Filipino really is.

And would be the perfect example of genuine People Power.

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Raquelproud boholana · « **Reply #15 on:** September 16, 2009, 02:46:11 AM »

Ganahan kaayo ko ni Dr. Ting kay puno gyud siya ug common sense. I will agree with him sa tanan niyang gisulti. Sa topic about pregnant woman about to give birth unya moingon lang ang bana nga emergency walay kwarta common kaayo ni sa atua. Grabeh naman pud ug wala gyud sila magtigom sa siyam ka bulan niyang buntis. Ngano wala nagtigom kay kabalo man sila naay mosalo ug bayad sa pagpanganak which is ang goberno or mga paryente ba ron nga naahan. It happen to me twice nagvisit ug bag ong nanganak nga ig agaw.Gadala pa ko ug gift then pag abot nahulog naman nuon nga akoy nagbayad sa tanang bills sa hospital kay ang pasumangil nadelay ang sweldo ug tuod man dako nalang ilang anak karon wala gyud ko gibayaran sa hospital bills nga ila untang responsibility.One time among silingan sad nahospital unya ing bisita ko same thing gihapon nahulog ug akoy nagbayad sa bills kay dili daw sila kagawas ug di bayran.I learn my lesson di na ko mobisita ug hospital hehehhe kay masalvador del muldo man ko ug hagad. Mao ni segi nako ug yawyaw sa akong mga paryente sa atua nga maayo mogasto ug text text sa cellphone pero di gani katigom ug kwarta incase masakit naay makoot pero kinaiya na jud siguro ni natong Filipino nga moingon tag I can get by kay I know naay motabang nako.Naay mosalo sa responsibility nga angay sa atu untang kaugalingon pero gipangduhig duhig sa mga paryente nga naahan or sa goberno. Ug di raba tabangan ug mamatay ang hingtungdan kitay mahayon nga unta silay dapat mahayon pero mao ni no one accept the responsibility maayo ning naa tay i blame.
This also remind me Grace sa gisulti ni Maricar nga kung dili daw duawon sa mga pamilya sa napreso ang napreso dili hatdan ug kan on mao mahug nga ang mga pulis nalang intawon mopakaon. Kalooy pud sa mga pulis ilang sweldo makuhaan kay kinsa bay motulin ug kaon unya naay mga pinereso way kaon mao tampo tampohan nalang daw nila aron makakaon ang mga binilanggo.Ang lesson ani dapat kitang tanan responsible para sa atong kaugalingon dili kay ipasapasa nato sa uban.

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Lorenzo · « **Reply #16 on:** September 16, 2009, 06:45:16 AM »

Grazie thank you for posting this info,
it's very relevant of today's
ongoing issue with the Healthcare
that Obama is trying to push down into
the throat of every citizens in this country.

Way back during the Clinton's administration,
his wife Hillary attempted to make Health
care universal just like Canada, UK, and
other countries in Europe but she failed
the people especially the retired senior citizens
opposed it.

Now, the current administration is working
hard to accomplish their goal with the Healthcare.
Sa tinood lang, dili para sa mga tawo ang ilang
giapas kon dili ang kwarta, even the AMA is for it, whoa!
Five pharmaceutical companies are with it, already
busy projecting how many billions they will make kon madayon
ni nga project.

Ang atong mga doctors, dentists, anybody who
are in the health care professions wala
nay kagawasan nga mofunction tungod kay
ang gobyerno na mauy mohatag ug guidelines
unsay ilang buhaton, pila ka pasyente ilang atimanon
ana nga shift, etc.
Kon dili mo motuo, then wait and see, kay ang tres
amigos nagmeeting na humana didto sa mexico.

Lord have mercy on us.

States, this post summarizes the physician's plight and motto of, "No to beurocratic monopoly of Medicine."

One thing that government needs to realize is how limited we are in regards to medical professionals.

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WilliamFek · « **Reply #17 on:** August 08, 2017, 06:26:41 PM »

balong · « **Reply #18 on:** August 08, 2017, 10:57:24 PM »

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