Filipino doctors

Two Filipino doctors were among the first to leave Gaza after the border crossing with Egypt was opened. Doctors Darwin Dela Cruz and Regidor Esguerra from the international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) are in Cairo while awaiting their new assignments.

I am sure they are not the only Filipinos working with the international volunteer group that serves in dangerous areas, particularly during times of war and calamities. Some of us may wonder why Filipino doctors would rather work as international volunteers when our country’s hinterlands are pretty much disaster areas in need of their services.

Many of those who choose to become doctors have this missionary zeal embedded in their hearts. Indeed, there was the late Dr. Bobby dela Paz, a UP graduate, who gave up a promising medical practice in Metro Manila to work in poverty-stricken Samar.

No good deed goes unpunished in our country. Dr. dela Paz was killed, a victim of the anti-insurgency operations. He was most likely treating rebels with medical issues and was then suspected of being a communist sympathizer. So, idealistic new doctors who want to serve humanity think of Dr. dela Paz and realize it is safer to work for Doctors Without Borders abroad.

Then, there was Dr. Dreyfus Perlas, a young volunteer for Doctors to the Barrios who served as Municipal Health Officer in Sapad, Lanao del Norte in Mindanao, and was killed by an assassin riding in a motorcycle.

 Indeed, Doctors Without Borders should be sending doctors here because our poorest areas are in grave need of medical services. But I heard they are not welcome to work here as volunteers because local doctors are very protective of their turf. In fact, even Fil-Am doctors who want to do medical missions here are given a tough time getting the permission to do so by the DOH.

That is strange because there are only four doctors for every 10,000 Filipinos. And since most of our doctors are in the urban areas, many Filipinos don’t ever get to see a doctor and are left to the tender care of the traditional albularyos.

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a House panel that we need around 114,000 physicians and 127,000