‘We have to wake up and take dual action – first by taking care of our health and second by making sure we have the right public servants in place who will properly administer government policies that fully address the basic health needs of the Filipino.’
WE Filipinos are – almost all of us – just one serious illness away from drowning in debt.
This is the harsh reality of Philippine society today, more than ever. As put to me by a graduate of the UP College of Medicine, 90% (or is it 95%?) of all Filipino families are just one-family-member-getting-seriously-ill away from going bankrupt.
Think about it. How many times have you received a message from a relative or a friend – sometimes in fact not even a close friend – asking for assistance because he or she or a loved one is seriously ill?
And who isn’t inclined to give? Whether it’s ₱1,000 or ₱5,000 or ₱10,000 or more, if you can, giving is our way of trying to do what we can to help lift that double burden – disease and debt – that together can be so crippling. But you know that what you give, no matter how heartfelt, is simply a drop in the bucket for the expenses to be incurred, for a procedure that needs to be done and/or for post-op treatments.
Imagine if the patient has to undergo regular dialysis or chemo treatments – how many of us can afford that without asking for help from others?
If there is one reason that corruption at the highest levels of government angers me, it is this – we cannot provide our ordinary citizens decent and competent medical service at zero or almost zero cost to them. And if there is one reason that irresponsibility among our people angers me, it is this – because many live their lives with nary a care for their health needs, confident that family and friends will always be around to provide the much-needed support.
Let this sink in – if just one family member turns seriously ill and will require an extended stay in the hospital, a complicated medical procedure or a lengthy recovery period with boxes of prescription medicines to be consumed, who will pay for this? And while the younger generation may be smug in their youthfulness, who will answer for the charges if one of their parents becomes ill?
The thought scares and saddens me.
In my case, I’ve taken steps to make sure I do not become a burden on others when the time comes that I will be needing medical attention. I’ve done this because I know that passing on my burden to others is just not the right thing to do.
But I sense that tens of millions of our countrymen have not taken any steps to prepare themselves; worse, they don’t even take care of their health! So when the time comes – and it will – what happens?
We have to wake up and take dual action – first by taking care of our health and second by making sure we have the right public servants in place who will properly administer government policies that fully address the basic health needs of the Filipino.
Sidelined by disease and sunk by debt – let us not let this become the story of our lives!
