Samar’s poor get free healthcare, local pols get free ride

HELP FROM ABROAD Amputee Zosima Dulay, her husband and their great granddaughter are about to return to their home in Rawis village, Northern Samar, after getting free medicines on July 2 from US-based medical mission SamarLeyte Texas. Other residents endure the heat that day as they wait for their turns to get medical care at a gymnasium in the provincial capital of Catarman. —Danny Petilla/Contributor RAWIS, NORTHERN SAMAR — On July 2, Zosima Dulay and her family of poor farmers did something that they had never done in years. They were going out to see a doctor for their chronic health problems. The 68-year-old grandmother picked up her rusty but trusted aluminum crutches which have helped her move around since she lost both her legs in a freak accident when she was 21 years old. But her 4-year-old great granddaughter Brianna was always around to assist her. Article continues after this advertisement They would join a crowd already gathering at the village center, all expecting to get free medical care from doctors and nurses coming from the United States. READ: Groups expand health initiative in ‘underserved’ Eastern Samar towns “Baga in nalusad hin bukid (It’s like coming down from a mountain),” Dulay said in Waray, describing the hardship she endured every time she went out of their humble mudfloor home in Purok 5 in this coastal barangay that is part of the town of Lao-ang. Her husband Eduardo, 67, would join them later after hitching Shirley, their carabao, to a tree, when his half-day’s work at the family farm was done. “My health is not good, I can hardly breathe, and we don’t have money to see a doctor,” said Dulay, who received a bagful of medicines that included Salbutamol, a drug enclosed in an inhaler that will help her breathe better. Article continues after this advertisement READ: A mission hospital in Samar Her prescription came from Dr. Ryan Sudario, a US-licensed pulmonologist and one of the volunteers of SamarLeyte Texas (SLT), the US-based nonprofit that was here to offer free tooth extractions, circumcisions, medical consultations and free eyeglasses inside the Rawis athletic center. Article continues after this advertisement Beyond reach Complaining of constant breathing problems, Dulay exhibited symptoms of a disease known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which afflicts about 2.5 million Filipinos, according to recent government estimates. Eduardo has chronic back problems and Brianna is asthmatic. Shut out of the government’s social safety net programs like 4Ps and PhilHealth, the Dulays are proof that the Marcos administration’s promises of universal health care are not reaching most Filipinos, its pledges of inclusion for the poor more illusory than ever. But on this day, some 65 foreign medical professionals were here to volunteer their time and expertise, aiming to fill a gap in one of the poorest parts of the country where the government’s healthcare programs are hardly felt. “We came to this place because our data tell us residents here hardly visit a doctor in their lives,” said Dr. Robert Salazar, one of the founders of SLT and a native of Tacloban City who has been doing medical missions in different parts of the country since 1999. But the zeal of these Filipino American professionals to help their homeland ran smack into a wall of misunderstanding and alleged noncooperation, at least in Catarman, the capital of this province located east of this barangay. Dealing with local execs “They wanted access to our data we were getting from our patients and we said no,” said Cesar Lagrimas, one of SLT’s prime movers and a native of Catarman. The conflict and apparent culture clash caused the local government unit (LGU) to pull out its support for the medical mission, with most of its volunteers coming from Houston, Texas, in the United States. “We don’t have any funds,” said Lagrimas, quoting a top representative of Catarman Mayor Dianne Rosales. The other officials of the province—including Gov. Harris Ongchuan, his wife Lao-ang Mayor Charlene Ongchuan and Congressman Edwin Ongchuan, the governor’s cousin—wanted their healthcare initiatives to be given credit too, claimed the SLT officials. The disagreement escalated when the LGUs could not even produce a few electric fans to cool the Catarman Athletic Center, which was sweltering in 34 degrees Celsius heat on this Friday morning. “Binastos kami (They insulted us)” said a top SLT official who requested anonymity. “We just try to focus on our mission and don’t get distracted from things like this,” said Dr. Clemente Logronio Jr., the current president of SLT as he immediately authorized his team to buy 15 big electric fans from local hardwares in Catarman. “Nothing has changed in my hometown,” said Lagrimas, the Catarman native who has been away from his hometown for 40 years. He was seen visibly fighting off tears. “This is the first time we encountered a problem like this,” said Virgilio Laruda, another SLT official. Patronage politics A week later, this reporter visited the regional office of the Department of Health in Palo, Leyte. But not one official was willing to publicly comment on the apparent brush-off. After their work here in Rawis and Catarman and earlier in Anibong district in Tacloban and in the town of San Miguel in Leyte, the group would complete this year’s mission in Talisay, Cebu, helping more than 5,000 recipients. Some say the ugly spectacle seen in Catarman is a reflection of the problematic healthcare system that is being hijacked by patronage politics and politicians out to take credit for themselves. This is also the challenge faced by President Marcos who is due to deliver his penultimate State of the Nation Address on July 27—at a time when most Filipinos are distrustful of his healthcare initiatives marked by massive diversion of funds from PhilHealth’s programs. But these problems are too complex for the Dulays to comprehend. They just need relief from their ailments without much government intrusion. Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again. Your subscription has been successful. “I’m just happy our friends from America came today,” Dulay said as she and her husband and their great grandchild walked away briskly to a nearby motorcab waiting outside the village center to take them home. /cb