Why be ashamed?

I was recently reminded of a story in the Bible concerning Jesus Christ that sadly repeats itself in the Philippines. The story is about the woman who had an issue with blood for 12 years.

The story is told in the books of Matthew (9:20-22), Mark (5:23-34) and Luke (8:43-48). The most detailed version is in the book of Mark:

“Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for 12 years and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better but rather grew worse.

“When she heard about Jesus, she came behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, ‘If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.’ Immediately, the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.

“And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that power had gone out of him, turned around in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ But his disciples said to him, you see the multitude thronging you and you say, ‘Who touched me?’

“And he looked around to see her who had done this thing. But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.

“And he said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction’.”

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That event took place over 2,000 years ago but minus the miraculous healing, would you believe that the storyline repeats itself regularly in the Philippines?

We all know how families suffer economic catastrophe when a family member suffers from heart disease, cancer, kidney or liver disease. Just like the woman who suffered for 12 years, many in the Philippines run out of money, sell properties or go into debt but don’t get well.

This week I met a family who lost their mother last December after a prolonged bout with cancer. That of course depleted their savings and assets. While they were still in mourning, they found out that one of their sisters had multiple medical complications in her body, including cancer.

After several months of going in and out of a private hospital, the woman and her siblings simply could no longer afford the bills and decided to go to a public hospital.

And so they did. But upon reaching the tertiary hospital, the patient was overwhelmed by the huge crowds of even poorer patients all lined up for consultation. The lady was overcome by shame, feeling she was taking other people’s slot or treatment and wanted to go home.

Only after being reminded that they could no longer afford treatment elsewhere, and like every Filipino regardless of social status she had a right to seek medical treatment, did she rein in her sense of shame.

Much like the woman with an issue of blood, they were both desperate to live and get treatment. They were both cleaned out by physicians and hospitals and needed a miracle.

I was so disturbed that a middle class taxpayer would have to experience shame and guilt for going to a public hospital. She was not being cheap or taking advantage of the system at other people’s expense. She simply could not afford expensive private hospitals!

So why be ashamed of going to a government hospital ?

Well, first of all, government hospitals in the Philippines carry a “stigma” or “a mark of social disgrace, disapproval or severe disapproval of a person or group based on perceived characteristics that set them apart from other members of society.”

It often results in discrimination, prejudice and social isolation. Patients in government hospitals are viewed as “poor” or presumed to be poor, sometimes even required to get a certificate that they are indigent or extremely poor, destitute or lacking the basic necessities of life, such as money, food and shelter.

Most people I know who have a college education, have a job and grew up above the poverty line are willing to pay for hospitalization. They don’t want a free ride. They simply want affordable medical care and not to be taken advantage of or be a victim twice.

Unfortunately, in the Philippines, private hospitals are purely profit driven, so profitable that corporations now do their best to buy up any and all hospitals.

If you get rushed to their ERs or checked in, you will undergo a battery of laboratory tests that virtually does the medical work for doctors.

The problem is there are no hospitals cheaper than private but “better” than public. Even the GOCC hospitals such as Heart Center now cost a lot of money.

Because of these, some specialists tell their patients to go to their clinic in a private hospital, have lab tests done outside and if surgery or surgical procedures are needed, the trend is to do it at a government hospital where the same specialist also does work.

With a new secretary at the Department of Health, we can only hope that he will seriously study the trend of “The New Poor” migrating from private hospitals to government hospitals that have very few private rooms or pay wards.

The government needs to either regulate prices in private hospitals or build affordable “middle class” hospitals, or be overwhelmed in two to three years.

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