HOTSPOT
Before February ended, right smack on the year’s leap day, I had a health emergency.
Not feeling well but still lucid, I was able to bring myself to a nearby health center. I got checked by a doctor, received a prescription for maintenance (ha!), and was ordered to undergo tests. The dispensary officer gave me a month’s supply of my prescribed medicines. The staff said it was good I went there immediately because otherwise, it would have been the emergency room for me.
At the follow-up check-up the following week, the doctor pored through the pages of test results and confirmed the initial diagnosis. No, sorry to disappoint my enemies and detractors, but it is not that serious. I just have to take my medicines, change my diet, sleep early, and get some daily exercise.
If you read closely though, you would have noticed that I went to a health center. Yes, a health center. Why not? We’re all entitled to public health services. Besides, when I checked the clinics and hospitals nearby, the health center happened to be the nearest to me.
We’ve all heard about the wonderful health and other social benefits of Makatizens. Quezon City has dozens of health centers and even “super health centers,” as well as social hygiene clinics.
QC has health programs for community-based mental health, family planning, nutrition, cancer, dental, non-communicable disease prevention, maternal and child care, and tuberculosis, adolescent care, senior care, epidemiology and surveillance, free medicines, and medical morbidity. (The district congressman this month opened a free diagnostic clinic.)
When I went to my follow-up, the health center was packed, seemingly without any order. Seniors, pregnant women, new mothers and their babies, and people like me were waiting and milling around. I thought it would take me hours before seeing the doctor.
But it turns out there’s a process where health workers vet the people, assign a number, and then call out names when it is one’s turn. There were also a lot of doctors that morning, with one of them giving a talk about dengue. By some magic, the system worked.
Simultaneously, the seniors were able to get their meds from the dispensary, those needing checkups got to see a doctor, and the mothers got the “bakuna” for the babies.
As a “Batang Public School,” I am also a “Batang Health Center.” When we were in our younger years at Dr. Alejandro Albert Elementary School in Sampaloc, Manila, we would have annual physicals and receive mandatory shots as well.
This experience with public health workers and doctors would continue at UPLB, where no freshman could start university admission without a visit to the Infirmary.
One time, when a friend and I were in a road accident in Puerto Princesa, we split our ways. My friend went to a private hospital, while I took the tricycle to the provincial hospital which at the time looked quite old.
We compared our experiences at the hospitals after. We were given the exact same treatment. But he spent several thousand pesos at the medical center. I forked out less than ₱200 for gauze, bandage, and ointment which the doctor ordered and applied. I believe I also received a free tetanus shot.
When my eldest nephew’s partner was about to have their baby, we brought them to Bulacan Provincial. The baby’s normal delivery was free of any charge. Our parents were impressed by the public hospital’s well-lit, fully-airconditioned nursery and post-maternity unit which was brand new at the time.
During the pandemic, public health workers played a lead role. In what could be a preview of a genuine universal health care system we deserve and thus we should build, we got our “bakuna” shots — two initial doses plus two boosters — for free. It is the kind of investment that’s legitimately good for us.
I’m not saying that everything’s great in our public health centers. I just attest to how dependable they have been to me and many others. I have also met amazing doctors who signed up for the Doctors To The Barrios program.
You wouldn’t know what’s there until you visit the health center nearest you, or even just take a peek at your area’s health department’s Facebook Page.
If our area has awful public health centers, the response is not to go private and fend for ourselves. Press government to prioritize people’s health, and support our public health workers.