Thursday, October 25, 2007

Total Collapse

The Secretary of Health recently admitted that the Philippine medical system is in crisis and could face eventual collapse. He stated that a whopping 88 percent of health care professionals are now abroad. There is only one government doctor to attend to every 28,000 Filipinos.

The looming collapse is the direct product of years of neglect to the healthcare system. Did the good Secretary actually expect anything better whenever you allocated a measly 1% of the national budget towards healthcare? He should have fought harder long ago to end the criminal neglect shown to the health needs of the nation.

Now it is too late. I am convinced, with the startling revelations made today that the husband of GMA was set to gain $70 million over a broadband deal that this corrupt political order is coming to an end. And I am not referring to the presidency alone. Look how all these governors and congressmen immediately went to the aid of their crumbling way of life. Just as it is never within the interests of parasites to kill their hosts, the days of these vermin are numbered.

I hope that the change will happen peacefully but when we learn of the staggering amounts of dirty money involved, that possibility becomes remote. There is too much at stake for these people and their armed minions to give up without violent protestations.

In a crowded city, it is difficult to see dark clouds form in the distance. Try scanning the horizon from the vast plains of Oklahoma.

3 comments:

Chinachix said...

the numbers are indeed depressing and staggering. healthcare is a hot point anywhere, including Canada, with its socialized healthcare. have you seen "sicko"?

on an unrelated note, have you posted something on the case of fil am MD, dr. noel chua? i dont have all the facts...but would you say this is reflective of the litigatious nature of medicine in the US?

Martin D. Bautista, M.D. said...

but as I repeatedly state: there are hardly any deaths from TB and diarrhea in Canada and the US. vaccinations are widely available. "Sicko" does not even begin to describe the catastrophic state of Philippine healthcare.

like you, I am not familiar with the case of Dr. Chua and while US society may indeed be more litigious, there is a lot more fairness in their justice system compared to ours.

Anonymous said...

Sad, sad, isn't it? But can we blame the doctors for leaving? It doenn't matter if they work as nurses, as over 10,000 of those doctors have done already.

What a good nurse in the U.S. can earn in one month will take a doctor at least 3 to 4 motnhs to match that if the doc stays home.

At some point, the government has to make a decision on whether it will keep educating doctors to export them abroad. This brain drain has to stop.

On the guilty verdict on Dr. Noel Chua for felony murder and violations of Georgia's Controlled Substances Act, that was arrived at by the jury on the basis of facts that showed that he prescribed strong narcotics in overlapping periods of time to treat a young man (James Carter) with chronic migraines, which is a marked deviation of treatment for that condition.

Additionally, Chua was found to have lured a number of young men to live with him, sleep in his bedroom, including James Carter who died of multi-drug intoxication. This was a gross ethical lapse that, along with his prescribing exceedingly large doses of narcotics, resulted in his having his medical license summarily suspended by the state board of medical examiners. This was not known to the public until the trial last week.

Earlier, before his criminal trial last week, Chua's liability carrier settled with the family of Carter after they filed a malpractice suit against him. There was no way Chua could have won.