The year is 2075. Thanks to a triumphant revolution 40 years earlier, a new government unveiled a radical health program.

From the first year after the revolution, all babies got screened and immunized, and mothers taken care of. School children receive mandatory vaccination. Everyone from the age of 18 receives annual physical checkups. Barangay health workers fan out every day to check on the sick, elderly and persons with disability. The “medical tourism” program is abolished immediately.

Physical fitness, physical and health education, indigenous and international sports are promoted in all schools, workplaces and neighborhoods.

New local governments competed among themselves not in building city hospitals, but in keeping their citizens healthy. The annual checkups that begin at age 18 continue as a mandatory right of workers. Sick and vacation leaves are guaranteed and protected.

The local governments of adjacent cities or provinces instead cooperated among themselves in building local tertiary hospitals that are adequate, well-equipped, properly-funded, and fully-staffed. The national government and Congress agreed to assist the local governments in such endeavors.

Thanks to the annual physicals, preventable diseases are actually prevented. Serious diseases are detected early. Occupational health and safety is highlighted in workplaces, private and public.

To the cynics’ amazement, the new government declared that because people were the country’s most valuable asset, their health should be taken care of.

The government proclaimed: Nobody, and absolutely nobody, would again go around begging for donations, lose jobs or sleep, or go bankrupt just to get medical help.

The new health care system provides a comprehensive service that is free at the point of use, based on clinical need rather than the ability to pay. It covers all Filipinos and is fully-funded by taxpayers.

The new Congress started to enact laws supporting massive investments in health infrastructure and manpower, and in the pharmaceutical, chemical and medical device industries. Specialty medical centers, and manufacturing areas started to be constructed across the country. Regional hospitals were abolished and instead the focus was on the provinces.

Sure, there were hiccups and big challenges in the first decade after the painfully-long period of decay and indignity pre-revolution. But by the second decade, a lot of the problems were being solved.

Waves of “balikbayan” programs for overseas Filipino health workers attracted tens of thousands of nurses and doctors to come back home. For some reason, the government discovered that the national budget can actually be spent wisely, and in favor of both patients and health workers.

Among the first “balikbayan” classes were folks who helped manage single-payer health insurance systems elsewhere, as well as those who worked in pharmaceutical and chemical companies abroad.

The government and Congress abolished the “national” specialty centers. The Philippine Heart Center became Metro Manila Heart Center. The National Kidney Transplant Institute became Metro Manila Kidney and Transplant Institute. The Lung Center of the Philippines became the Lung Center of Metro Manila. The National Center for Mental Health became Metro Manila Center for Mental Health. Only the Philippine General Hospital was spared by the renaming streak, because of its status as the training and teaching hospital of the University of the Philippines.

In a period of 20 years, there were specialty centers in Metro Baguio, Metro Angeles, Metro Naga, Metro Cebu, Metro Iloilo, Metro Tacloban, Metro Cagayan de Oro, and Metro Davao. The old PGH along Taft Avenue was demolished in favor of a new modern hospital campus in what was the Intramuros golf course. In place of the old PGH was an expanded UP Manila campus.

In the field of research, Filipino scientists focus on the development of vaccines, medicines, tests, devices, and equipment. UP Manila leads a consortium of universities comprising a new national center for medical research, which by 2050 has become the best in Southeast Asia.

A new health system gave birth to a new mindset. This country that once exported nurses and doctors now thrives and stays healthy by keeping most of them. No more “solicitations” for medical-related problems. Any Filipino can avail of free medical attention at any government hospital, no questions asked.

No more Malasakit lines or Philhealth scams of times past. No more dependence on HMOs.

History books and internet lore, and stories from grandparents and great grandparents tell of that time when health budgets are stolen, and when there were guarantee letters to line up for at lawmakers’ offices. The year is 2075 and people are thankful that the revolution happened, and that the time of decay and indignity had ended.