UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Our health system really needs help. With a burgeoning population mainly made up of poor people (self-rated poverty is 42 percent), we are struggling to meet their medical needs aside from their day-to-day living. Government hospitals are overwhelmed by the number of patients who have illnesses that require specialized care and surgery. Many of these patients don’t manage to get into the system and simply resign themselves to a painful and lingering death.
Private hospitals are mostly profit-driven, but there is one that dares break the mold. The Our Lady of Peace Hospital (OLPH) in Parañaque was the brainchild of Sister Fidela Maamo, SPC and Fr. James B. Reuter SJ who put up the Foundation of Our Lady of Peace Mission Inc. (FOLPMI). Its vision is “To be a Christ-centered dynamic and socially responsive global health care ministry providing holistic quality health care services.”
In 1992, the FOLPMI office and outpatient clinic were built with the help of the Paulinians in Japan. It catered to the poor families of Parañaque and neighboring communities, providing socially responsive global health care ministry services.
In 2002, with the financial assistance of Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco, a four-story building was inaugurated which provided free consultation and accommodation for poor patients, charging minimal fees for medicines, supplies and other services.
As was typical of hospitals ran by the religious, it was bound to run into financial difficulties due to the strain of providing free services to the poor.
In 2021, upon the invitation of Sr. Eva, a team led by Dr. Marcus Lester R. Suntay (chairman, hospital committee), Dr. Henrique da Roza (hospital administrator) and Eidelbert Santiago, RN, MM (administrative officer), and a year later by Dr. Rhoderick de Leon (medical director), took over the reins of OPLH and it marked a dramatic turnaround of its financial condition. They also expanded the number and variety of medical services the hospital provides.
Now, the hospital has a full complement of medical specialties and subspecialties seen mainly in more advanced hospitals, with the necessary equipment in-house.
There is a Colorectal Clinic for bowel issues such as Hirschsprung’s disease, which is rather common among newborn children. This condition prevents the normal passage of feces and leads to intestinal obstruction. Without the life-saving surgery, these babies will not live a normal life.
The Craniofacial Center caters to children born with cleft lip and palate. The corrective surgery allows them to develop normal speech and spares them the facial disfiguration that leads them to be bullied by other children.
The OLPH Eye Center provides free surgery for cataract and pterygium, common eye problems among the elderly that may lead to blindness if not removed. The center also treats retina and corneal diseases.
It has the SAVE1 Program which stands for Surgeries Accessible to the Vulnerable, in partnership with the World Surgical Foundation Philippines (WSFP) which provides free major and minor surgeries to indigent patients, which in 2022 alone, amounted to over ₱6 million. In 2023, the number of free surgeries doubled to 521 that totaled over ₱9 million.
These would not have been possible if not for the support of various organizations such as One Sky Foundation Inc. and ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation Inc., for pediatric surgical patients, Watsi for general and pediatric surgeries, and AY Foundation Inc., for female surgical patients.
The generosity of the team of doctors who provide medical and surgical services for free means the OPLH didn’t have to dig deep into its finances for professional fees, and we salute these magnanimous individuals who put others first in the practice of their profession.
Many patients turn to OLPH in desperation after being rejected by government hospitals struggling with heavy caseloads. Without the ministration of the OLPH team of medical professionals, these patients will succumb to their aliments unnecessarily.
It truly is a blessing to have a hospital like OLPH that has the heart to help our less fortunate countrymen, women and children. But it still has more potential for expansion of its services, if only there is more funding. With its core values of CARE (Compassion, Authenticity, Respect, Excellence), it deserves all the support it can get. If you are running a foundation that serves the poor and the downtrodden, please consider funding the Our Lady of Peace Hospital. Contact Eidelbert Santiago at 0956 405 2800 or email [email protected].
What impresses me about OLPH is the dedication of the current administrators who practically live in the hospital to run it as efficiently as possible. It is a labor of love, for they certainly don’t receive humongous salaries like top executives in private corporations or government do.
Imagine many hospitals like OLPH in the countryside, doing the great work it does. We can dream, or we can do it ourselves.