Is There Love Still For The Doctor?
To be an agent of change: It is a hard task for an inexperienced doctor such as myself. However, the last 5 days spent in Tagaytay together with fellow and more senior doctors from around the country have been inspirational. It was the boost that I needed. Immersed in this God-forsaken job of public health, life can be very frustrating. There are things you wanted changed simply because the system is wrong and instead of being lauded for it, you end up being persecuted. This idealism is not exclusive nonetheless to young and neophyte doctors. Even the more senior and experienced ones still contain some blaze of idealism. They too wanted things to be done the right way. But they too are limited by the powers that be.
Be that as it may, this perception of powerlessness should not prevent us from desiring to be ideal, to pursue what is true and fair. Nowadays, government doctors are perhaps the least appreciated and most abused and politically used.
A good example alone is the inequity in compensation for these doctors. Currently, the doctors to the barrios are squirming because they have yet to be paid of their Hazard pay for April-May-June. Rumor has it that the hazard pays will be deducted. Instead of increasing the compensation of these doctors deployed and perhaps the most hazardous corners of the Philippines, the big bosses of our government would want them to be satisfied with a small fee. With the present economic crisis, young doctors to the barrios are not spared from the effects of the economic crisis. The tragedy here is, it would seem as if the very government that they serve is the very source of their downfall.
While being a doctor is indeed vocational, it is not by any means an entirely charitable and philanthropic occupation. Remember that just like any other employee: lawyer, clerk, security guard, teacher, judge, senator, congressman, secretary of health and even the republic's President, the doctor has a family to feed, children to educate and expenses to pay: water, electricity, phone bill, etc. With the new standardization law, Magna Carta Benefits will be disregarded as soon as the new SSL will be fully implemented. And although our government would want us to believe that there is an increase in salary, by actual computations, the increase is almost irrelevant (consider withholding taxes).
There is no more love for the doctor.
Doctors are only remembered come election time, when Mayors, Congressmen and other politicians would employ doctors for medical missions, sending their MHO's and CHO's into a frenzy of non-beneficial medical missions (that only promote patronage politics), without even bothering to consider whether or not they have already given their Magna Carta benefits.
So, why is this happening? The simple answer is: because we allow it to happen. Doctors hardly complain. We hardly go to rallies and voice out our sentiments in Congress. Doctors who became lawmakers seemed to be inefficient allies as well.
"Evil happens only when good men do nothing". No exception here.
In other words, we have the choice. We can make things happen. Or we can just let the rotten system pass us by.
My only fear is that, with such a blatant lack of love for the doctor, there will come a time when there will be no more doctors in the rural frontlines. No more idealistic young doctors will volunteer to serve their government and people. I cannot imagine a country succeeding in all aspects without a strong healthcare system.
For now, the simple doctor waits...and maybe later...will act, if push comes to shove.
Be that as it may, this perception of powerlessness should not prevent us from desiring to be ideal, to pursue what is true and fair. Nowadays, government doctors are perhaps the least appreciated and most abused and politically used.
A good example alone is the inequity in compensation for these doctors. Currently, the doctors to the barrios are squirming because they have yet to be paid of their Hazard pay for April-May-June. Rumor has it that the hazard pays will be deducted. Instead of increasing the compensation of these doctors deployed and perhaps the most hazardous corners of the Philippines, the big bosses of our government would want them to be satisfied with a small fee. With the present economic crisis, young doctors to the barrios are not spared from the effects of the economic crisis. The tragedy here is, it would seem as if the very government that they serve is the very source of their downfall.
While being a doctor is indeed vocational, it is not by any means an entirely charitable and philanthropic occupation. Remember that just like any other employee: lawyer, clerk, security guard, teacher, judge, senator, congressman, secretary of health and even the republic's President, the doctor has a family to feed, children to educate and expenses to pay: water, electricity, phone bill, etc. With the new standardization law, Magna Carta Benefits will be disregarded as soon as the new SSL will be fully implemented. And although our government would want us to believe that there is an increase in salary, by actual computations, the increase is almost irrelevant (consider withholding taxes).
There is no more love for the doctor.
Doctors are only remembered come election time, when Mayors, Congressmen and other politicians would employ doctors for medical missions, sending their MHO's and CHO's into a frenzy of non-beneficial medical missions (that only promote patronage politics), without even bothering to consider whether or not they have already given their Magna Carta benefits.
So, why is this happening? The simple answer is: because we allow it to happen. Doctors hardly complain. We hardly go to rallies and voice out our sentiments in Congress. Doctors who became lawmakers seemed to be inefficient allies as well.
"Evil happens only when good men do nothing". No exception here.
In other words, we have the choice. We can make things happen. Or we can just let the rotten system pass us by.
My only fear is that, with such a blatant lack of love for the doctor, there will come a time when there will be no more doctors in the rural frontlines. No more idealistic young doctors will volunteer to serve their government and people. I cannot imagine a country succeeding in all aspects without a strong healthcare system.
For now, the simple doctor waits...and maybe later...will act, if push comes to shove.
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