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.
“Live like a King, die like a rat!†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 phone…
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 family’s health, preferring to ignore his baby’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 Filipino’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.
“Dok, 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 isn’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.
“Tal pueblo, tal gobierno!†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 country’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 Filipino’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 neighbour’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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