SONA 2007: What The Hell Happened To Health Care?
In an almost marathon-like manner, President Gloria Arroyo at one point in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) listed project after project, name after name, of everything that would happen and who would be part of it, in her Super Regions.
The Super Regions are the Luzon Urban Beltway; the North Luzon agribusiness region; the Central Luzon tourism region; the Mindanao food basket in the South; and the information technology strip that stretches from Luzon to Mindanao.
It means that with P1.7 trillion going to her constituents to make projects, have them look good in front of their people, and try to maybe scavenge some for themselves, I’m hoping there will still be some money left for health care. I’m hoping of course, but more likely it will not be possible.
As compared to P1.7 trillion going into pork for her pet projects, let’s look at her statements pertaining to health and medicine,
Sa unang pagkakataon, gumastos ang Philhealth ng higit P3 bilyon sa paospital ng maralita.
Noong 2001 sinabi kong hahatiin natin ang presyo ng gamot na madalas bilhin ng madla. Ngayon sampung libong Botika ng Barangay ang nagtitinda ng murang gamot. Ang paracetamol na tatlong piso sa labas ay piso lamang sa Botika ng Barangay. Ang antibiotic na binibenta ng mga pangunahing parmasya sa P20 ay P2 lamang.
Kaya sa isang survey, halos kalahati ang nagsabing abot-kaya ang gamot, kumpara sa 11% noong 1999.
So we can spread this even more, I ask Congress to pass the Cheaper Medicines Bill that was almost enacted in June. Almost is not good enough. Let’s help Mar Roxas, Ferge Biron and Teddy Boy Locsin give our people meaningful, affordable choices, from abroad and here in the Philippines.
I also ask Congress to pass legislation that brings improved long term care for our senior citizens. Asahan natin si Ed Angara.
So basically nothing was done with medicine, and she gave “P3 bilyon sa paospital ng maralita”. What?? She actually boasted P3 billion as if it was a lot? compare P3 billion with P1.7 trillion for her pork projects and you will realize that P3 Billion is less than half of 1 percent of P1.7 trillion.
Give me a break. This is not the State of our Roads Address. This is the State of the Nation Address.
Are these projects going through proper bidding procedures? Just like the ASEAN lampposts that were overpriced? Just like some provincial DPWH offices who are given around P300,000 - P500,000 to build elementary schools, but in the end, only a little over a 100,000 will be used, and the rest pocketed. I bet you that almost half of that P1.7 trillion will be misused, abused, and will go to the wrong hands.
And yet, health care was not an overwhelming issue. Gloria lauded over everyone’s heads that she is winning the war against hunger, but misuses statistical data to make herself look good.
She takes notice of her P3 billion that came from PhilHealth and went to the poor. But that’s like giving a band aid to a person who has had his limbs blown off, then multiply that by millions of Filipino people. Don’t give us a band aid Madam President!
So, her State of the Nation Address basically says, that as long as Paracetamol is cheap, our health care should be fine. Wow. What good are these infrastructures going to be if there are no people to walk on them?
“Our State of our Nation is strong”. The poor and sick however will have to make due.
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If PhilHealth shelled out 3 billion for the hospitalization of the poor, this means Philhealth cards were used, cards doled out in self-serving political patronage. But that is not my beef – I am now inured to the ubiquitous corruption of this administration.
My dismay is the prevailing healthcare paradigm of healing and cure with MEDICINE instead of the UN proposal to adopt Preventive Medicine as public health policy. Prevention of disease is much less costly than the current mindset of healing a disease, never mind the Pharma rapacity. Infectious disease prevention is so easy to implement with hardly any cost – hygiene (mostly hand washing), sanitation (clean surroundings to keep away disease vectors: flies, mosquitoes etc) and eating nutritious food. Chronic disease like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, elevated BP and cholesterol can be avoided by 80%, and up to 40% of cancer by simply eating the right diet, exercising and avoiding tobacco.
This concept can be propagated by trained Barangay health workers who can also inhibit the use of Paracetamol and other painkillers (all toxic if abused) and anti-biotics to preclude creating superbugs.
Neonate, I think you’re reading my mind. Your thinking is exactly the kind of meaningful discussion that should be discussed, not the rubbish that the SONA became… Please read my recent post on the CNN Youtube debates, under the heading, “Tough questions on health care”, my brief commentary on preventative health care is there.
God Bless Filipinos like you, who understand the issues.
This is the kind of information of course, that The Filipino people is being deprived of, if only they knew what was possible, that health care is possible were it not for the corruption and lack of real public service that comes from our politicians.