Salamat po, Doc (at Nars)!
(Conclusion)
The bill has two objectives: The first is the One Town, One Doctor formula. A scholarship program for the upper 30 percent of a graduating class of pre-Med course. One medical student scholar per town: Scholarship covers tuition, laboratory, miscellaneous fees, textbooks, supplies and equipment; clothing and uniform allowances; traveling, subsistence and living expenses. (If no one from a town qualifies, the slot is given to qualified scholar from another town in the same province.)
RETURN ON INVESTMENT. On graduating, the scholar returns to serve in his town for four years.
Second objective of the Medical Scholarship Bill: To finance the training of doctors. Tertiary education will breach R100 billion in 2020; R38.9 billion for the free college program; and R73.7 billion for the operation of SUCs. We should include the study of medicine among priority courses.
FACT: For 2020, DOH’s medical scholarship budget is R167 million for less than 2,000 students in eight SUCs. Many agencies are vital to democracy. But why are medical scholarships categorized as nonessential or add-ons? Consider some expenditure:
R9.6 billion Intelligence and Confidential Fund. R20.1 billion Travel Fund. R1.2-trillion Personal Services budget.
Philippine Military Academy spending R4.2 million to produce one graduate.
Commenting on that last entry, Senator Recto says that for half the cost of PMA scholarship we could graduate a doctor from the “Philippine Medical Academy.”
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N.B: The top 10 countries with the most doctors per capita are: Qatar (77.4), Monaco (71.7), Cuba (67.2), Greece (54), San Marino (51), Spain (49.5), Austria (48.3), Russia (43), Norway (42.8), and Georgia (42.7). Qatar takes the first place with 77 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants, mostly with expat doctors. The next batch of countries to complete the first 20 are Georgia, Lithuania, Portugal, Switzerland, Andorra, Belarus, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, Bulgaria, and Argentina.
The Philippines didn’t make it to the list, not even among the first 20. Even in the ASEAN ledger, we do not come out No. 1: Brunei (1.8), Indonesia (0.4), Cambodia (0.2), Laos (0.5), Malaysia (1.5), Myanmar (0.9), Philippines (1.3), Singapore (2.3), Thailand (0.8) and Vietnam (0.8). Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia
come before us (after taking importing foreign doctors and nurses). But our doctors and health care givers would be exponentially far higher if we count the number of doctors and nurses we send to USA, Europe, and to the rest of the world.
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The logical partner program to Senator Recto’s program for doctors is a recruitment program for nurses. Where is the doctor able to operate without a good nurse? Our nurses are the job multipliers. Nurses are the natural helpmates and partners of doctors. (My Tiya Fina was able to give prescriptions just listening to her two doctor nephews.) In my first foreign posting to Bonn, I had an cyst removed by a freshman doctor, who operated on me following the instructions of the head nurse.)
Nurses and health workers are seen today to spend the most critical hours doing what they were trained for. They are the tender loving care that has become the sobriquet of Philippine medicine.