MIND Speech
by June Ann
Delivered in May 28, 2005 MIND meeting

To our ever supportive senior doctors, Dr. Florina Kaluag, Drs. Willie and Liza Ong, our honored guest, Mr. Louis Perron, to the founders of MIND and Pinoy.MD, Dr. Philip Cruz, Dr. Mike Muin and Dr. Jojo Ferrer, to all the medical residents – our future supportive senior doctors, my fellow PGIs, clerks and medical students, good evening!

After listening to the lectures and inspiring messages just a while ago, I would like to start my reflection by saying THANK YOU Doctors! I’m sure you’re familiar with the first line of a beautiful song which I would like to sing for MIND…You gave me HOPE, the strength the will to keep on…HOPE is actually one thing that I have been longing for. I am an aspiring doctor, an intern who came all the way from Iloilo City just for this meeting. I’m actually a fan of Dr. Ong because I have been using the Medicine and Cardiology Bluebook during my clerkship and I’ve also read his articles in the Health and Lifestyle magazine. The first time I read M.I.N.D. announcement in friendster I immediately responded because just like some or many of us here, I am also experiencing a dilemma. I have lots of frustrations and questions about the present healthcare situation in our country.

I’d like to speak now in behalf of my co-PGIs, the clerks, and medical students who are here, sharing with me the same sentiments and hopelessness. Ten years ago, a surgeon uncle of mine advised me that if I want to take up medicine the best pre-med course is nursing…so I took it up…well, only to find out these days that medicine has turned out to be a pre-nursing course. I did not finish nursing because I shifted to another course. Now my heart breaks everytime I see pictures of my successful nurse batchmates in the US and UK through friendster. I can’t help but think.... “Buti pa sila … Well, I still have my nursing classcards.. and if I don’t MIND, i can finish Nursing anytime and leave the country too. I have relatives there who are doctors and nurses to help me.” I’m getting hopeless in Medicine everytime I hear my residents say, “doctor na nga kami pero underpaid na, overworked pa.” During my clerkship, my heart bleeds when I see in the chart of Charity patients, DAMA or Discharged Against Medical Advice kasi wala nang pambili ng gamot…everytime I write prescriptions tapos ilalagay lang ng folks sa bulsa coz they can’t afford the medicines. Where am I heading? As a resident few years from now, how can I help our youngest sister who will still be finishing college by that time? If I become a doctor, may magagawa ba ako? Kasalanan ng gobyerno kasi. I might as well leave the country too.

I actually grew up in a small town, a third class municipality with a total population of around 17 thousand. Our town has produced 10 doctors but at present only three of them are serving the 17, 000 people. 4 of the 10 doctors are now taking up nursing. 2 of the 4 nursing doctors are actually a rural health officer and a medical director. How’s that Health for all by 2000 or the Alma Ata Declaration now? I can’t imagine Health for all with only 3 doctors for 17,000 people?

I was a second year medical student, we were more than a hundred in our class then, when the issues on doctors becoming nurses and the malpractice bills came out. I noticed almost 1/3 of my classmates shifted to nursing and our school enrolled only 20 first year students the following year. A few months after, we thought of a good theme for our school paper and when I approached one of our consultants, he simply said, “malpractice bills, di din naapprove eh, patay na ang issue na yan.” I thought there’s nothing to worry anymore and so we changed topic.

Two years ago, I was taking care of my grandfather who was admitted in our provincial hospital. We got a good internist to manage his cardiac problem. During Saturdays, I wondered why the doctor has to make rounds as early as 4 a.m. I followed him and outside the hospital I saw a van full of doctors. They have to leave early to study nursing in the nearby province during weekends. What a tragic reality, I thought.

I was wrong when I thought that Brain Drain happens only in the Philippines. I found out a few days ago that even the World Health Organization is so concerned about the crisis. In fact, the theme of August 2004 issue of the International Journal of Public Health is about Migration and Health Workers. Very interesting articles were published in that issue suggesting that policy-makers should focus on why people migrate and it gives strategic approaches to the management of migrating health workers from developing countries. In the December 2004 issue of the same Journal there’s a round table discussion about the article by Jeffrey Sachs entitled: “Health in the Developing World: Achieving the Millenium Development Goals. These Millenium Development Goals are international objectives adopted by the world community in 2000, with the first goal to reduce by half the proportion of the population in extreme poverty by 2015. A significant number of these goals are about health. Sachs explained the four steps that poor countries should take to obtain more donor financing for health: first is that they must have an overall strategy for scaling up health services, second, there need to be a detailed plan of implementation, third, there has to be a financing plan combining additional resources from donors and from domestic tax revenues. And the fourth step is advocacy. Developing countries’ plans he says, must be transparently designed and they have to involve not only health ministries, but also civil society: mission hospitals, nongovernmental organizations, community centers, and the country coordinating mechanisms that bring together all these critical stakeholders.

Even the World Health Organization is HOPEFUL! They are planning, evaluating, implementing. and doing the best they can to save developing countries. But if we don’t help our country, if we don’t help our DOH, if we don’t do something to help our profession, WHO and Millenium Development Goals just like Alma Ata will remain a failure.

In a book, Psychocybernetics, by Dr. Maxwell Maltz, a famous plastic sugeon, he talks about how to turn a crisis into creative opportunity. Well, this is it, our presence in this meeting simply shows that Filipino Doctors have such creative MINDS to turn the crisis we are facing right now to creative opportunities. Whatever that creativity means to each of us.

Few weeks ago, I was watching a beautiful movie about the true to life story of Mother Theresa of Calcutta. In the coming years if Blessed Mother Theresa will be canonized, I’d like to give her another title – the Patron Saint of Filipino Physicians. I was amazed at how she went out to the slums alone, saving the sick, the dying and the poorest of the poor. Her creativity in building a hospital for the poor from the abandoned part of temple. Her courage to speak up and face the government leaders. How generous people were coming over to give donations, more and more Sisters of Charity are joining her Congregation. Then, I remembered MIND and Pinoy MD founders. I remembered Docs Willie and Liza how we come here in Mind Meet to support them. As Pinoy Doctors, in this hopeless situation, we need each other, we need MIND, we need a creative MIND..and a heart like Mother Theresa’s.

Lastly, as I quote from the title of Dr. Ong’s article in a magazine a few years ago, “Is there Hope Left?” Yes Doctor, we are here and I believe there is HOPE for the medical profession if we just go the extra mile and support each other. Together with my co-PGIs and friends from Iloilo City who responded to my invitation, we have with us Drs. Rufino Oro and Dr. Pauline Hormillosa from UP-PGH, Dr. Jo Ann Marie Seville from Manila Doctors Hospital, Dr. Armie Gutierrez from MCU and Dr. Ray Pineda, who also came all the way from Bacolod City…I know you’re around sir. He’s our coordinator from the Negros Occidental area. We will do the best we can to spread the word and work together to support M.I.N.D. Thank you.