It isn’t much of a shock when we say that the Philippines has a government indifferent to its poor healthcare system that mocks its own health professionals. In fact, it has always been notorious for its lousy, threadbare service.
As we witness the outright disregard of the Philippine government for our health workers, it does not come as a surprise; certainly disappointing, but not surprising. Could it get any worse? Undoubtedly, yes.
Though the Department of Health (DOH) has managed to apologize for it, the fact that they have initially arrived at the idea of paying ₱500 a day for volunteer health workers to battle against COVID-19 is utterly insulting and disrespectful.
How the Health department managed to put a pathetic, offensive price tag of ₱500, which is even lower than the minimum wage for workers, on the service of medical professionals highly reflects how the government gives little to no regard for their welfare. The post, which was issued last March 27, called for “health care warriors” who will be deployed in the three referral hospitals that would cater patients to aid in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the 28-day volunteer engagement, working 8-hour shifts for 14 days straight and on-site quarantine for the succeeding 14 days. Should they contract the disease, they’ll be compensated with ₱100,000 and ₱1 million if they die.
As if this isn’t enough, Maristela Abenojar, Filipino Nurses United President, revealed that there are volunteer nurses who have been asked to sign a waiver saying that DOH would have no responsibility over them should they contract COVID-19. This just illustrates how insensitive the government is to the health of its own professionals; it is a government that impedes the security of its own people that are very much entitled to receive rightful treatment.
The overall disregard of the government took its toll when hundreds of health workers, from doctors to nurses to other medical workers, are on quarantine and a total of 21 doctors have died due to COVID-19 as of April 7, as reported by the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAP).
On a lighter note, President Rodrigo Duterte, on his March 30 address, honored healthcare workers who died while fighting the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. But somehow, he still managed to mess it up. It is, accordingly, a great honor to die for one’s country and that they are lucky to do so. However, if the deaths could have been prevented, it is like a big slap on the face to those who have died fighting.
Philippine Medical Association Commission on Legislation chairman Dr. Oscar Tinio believes that the deaths could have been prevented if there was enough supply of personal protective equipment (PPE). With the allocated budget of P75 billion for health initiatives granted by the Bayanihan ‘to Heal as One’ Act and a supplemental budget of P1.6 billion for DOH, the government can certainly afford to provide ample amount of PPEs and test kits for the health workers. How are we supposed to combat COVID-19 when our health professionals are dying?
We’re privileged enough to have dedicated health professionals, willing to risk their lives in service of the Filipinos. Now we can only offer our respect by giving them what is due. It is only necessary to render the long overdue deliverance and prioritize our health workers, so they don’t go fleeing abroad, or even worse, dying.
Perhaps one day, it becomes a shock when health professionals leave for abroad, or government officials get special treatments, or the president fails to protect its country’s health workers.
That is because we have been so accustomed to a government capable of providing an inclusive, functional healthcare system with great regard for health professionals that a substandard, unjust one comes as a surprise to us.
One can only hope.
