Poetry book narrates Covid-19 story from frontlines
IF there’s anyone who can speak on the pandemic, it’s one of the health professionals who’s fought long and hard at the frontlines.
Dr. Joseph Adrian L. Buensalido, an infectious diseases specialist and clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of the Philippines-philippine General Hospital, and serves at the Makati Medical Center, among his other affiliations, took his skill for writing verses in Filipino and his love for history to create what can be considered as a primary source of the country’s Covid-19 story.
The 72-page volume Mikrobyong Maliit, Pandemyang Pasakit, Ang Tinulang Salaysay ng Pandemyang Covid-19, is in part inspired by Philippine history, particularly by national hero and physician Dr. Jose Rizal, and fittingly contains a foreword by renowned historian Prof. Ambeth Ocampo. The rest are from the first-hand experiences the author has gone through during the worst of the surges.
Dr. Jondi Buensalido has faced the pandemic head-on and dealt with and grieved the passing of several colleagues who succumbed to the virus. From Raul Jara, one of his professors during his PGH training; Kharen Abat-senen, his senior during his PGH internship; Grace Lim, whom he called “one of our heroic Emergency Room physicians who was the first line of defense in Asian Hospital during the deadly first wave of Covid-19;” and Sally Gatchalian, past president of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
His verses on the pandemic articulate impressions and emotions shared by everyone who has lived through these unprecedented times. In fact, in its early pages, there is a certificate attesting that the holder or owner of the book has lived and survived during the time of the pandemic, a declaration of having gone through a grim part of the country’s history, and happiness at being still here to see its recovery.
The poignancy of the verses is further enhanced by the paintings accompanying them, which were created by Dr. Jocel Soria Buensalido, a skin specialist and Dr. Jondi’s wife. She was one of the 54 women from 31 countries, and the only Filipina to join the Virtual Exhibit Creative Resilience—art by Women in Science by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2021.
The book, according to Dr. Jondi Buensalido, is for “anyone who has lived through the pandemic, whether health-care workers, frontliners, those who suffered through the hard lockdowns, those who waited for the arrival of the vaccines, those who got the vaccines, those who had to sift through fake news to get to the real news, families who did their best to keep the SARS-COV-2 virus out of their households, those who had Covid-19 and survived and even those who lost loved ones because of the virus.”
Copies of Mikrobyong Maliit, Pandemyang Pasakit, Ang Tinulang Salaysay ng Pandemyang Covid-19 can be ordered through Facebook Messenger (@mikrobyongmaliitbook), 0917- 5331201, or e-mail