We often ask ourselves, what magic do medical front liners hold in this strangling health and political atmosphere in the Philippines: underpaid staffs, on-risk nurses, and maltreated doctors. Where do they get their strength to become the pillars of a better future for the Filipinos?
Certainly, they don’t get their strength from the government, since public hospital nurses and doctors became severely underpaid relative to the work load they are handling amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds, if not thousands, of nurses and doctors around the archipelago have already been affected by the virus itself, contracting COVID-19, becoming patients of their own health institution, and worst, becoming ashes inside an urn.
Just recently, a series of protests from different public health institutions sparked to call for better compensation and hazard pays, this is a clear manifestation that they are severely exploited by the government itself. These health works have been a clear victim of the maltreatment of the Duterte administration, so the question pushes forward: what do they have inside of them that keeps them from still thriving and pursuing what is best for the Filipino people.
Dedication. Filipino doctors and nurses have been known to be dedicated in their work, putting their lives in front them, setting aside personal lives just to save an intubated patient, or a child running out of air, even helping a homeless person give birth. This is what service is for the heroes of country this pandemic.
Looking back on August 2021, the whole country witnessed the sheer dedication of one off-duty nurse in Makati. To illustrate, Nurse Lorraine Pingol was running late to her work on a sunny Tuesday when she ran across a struggling homeless woman. Amidst her awaiting duty at work, Nurse Pingol stopped by the street to help the homeless lady give birth. This story became a stark symbol of the never-ending dedication of our nurses in the Philippines.
To emphasize, we cannot turn a blind eye to the ordinary nurses in the country whose sacrifices are not documented. Being a nurse alone is already a dedicated path, because you choose to become a server of the sick and ailed. Nurses in the country usually go forth to other countries in hopes of having a better future for their family, this happens because the Philippines treats its nurses as disposable figures, giving them salary lower than some unprofessional work. This became a pressing issue when Senator Cynthia Villar belittled the nurses of the Philippines by exposing that they are nothing but caretakers in other countries.
This proves that there’s still a systemic problem that pushes health workers in the country to commit outside of the Philippines, but amid this, there are still a number of health workers in the Philippines that choose to stay in the name of service.
As of the recent surveys, we have at least 120,000 nurses in the Philippines, doctors not included. These nurses are pillars inside the hospitals of the Philippines, taking care of patients who have contracted the lethal COVID-19. Most likely, these nurses rent boarding houses away from their family to prevent the spread of the virus inside their household; truly, an immeasurable amount of sacrifice.
Working hand-in-hand together with nurses are the doctors of the Philippines, the population of doctors in the Philippines becomes relatively smaller than that of nurses. One factor that contributes to this imbalance is the expense and difficulty of being a medical student in the country. Moreover, only a number of schools in the country offer the study of medicine, but that’s beside the point of their willingness to sacrifice themselves in the service of the Filipino.
Frequently, when we here about doctors, we often think that they are intimidating, scary, or even people that do not talk to the ordinary. In the context of the Philippines, doctors have become a key-asset in the communication to the Filipino people in preventing the spread and contagion of the COVID-19 virus.
Doctors have humbled themselves to become a shining light to the darkness that shrouds the country in this pandemic. However, they don’t shy away from the exploitative treatment of the government, among the series of protest are not only nurses and health staffs but also doctors. Doctors are hand-in-hand with other medical practitioners and allies to call for better pay and just treatment.
This just proves that no one in the healthcare sector dodges the exploitative treatment of the government, but even if they are treated harshly and unjustly, they still put their best foot forward to dedicate their service and lives for the Filipinos.
Thousands of doctors around the country have joined forces in becoming a pact of lifesaving people. Some doctors of Philippine General Hospital even worked nonstop from the influx of COVID-19 patients, overflowing from the ICUs to parking areas. Yet we do not see them from complaining to the Filipino people because they are just victims of the poor COVID response of the government, hence they become grounded to spoon feed information to the people.
We see tons of medical front liners every day, working with full dedication just to round our country back to the way it was before the spread of the virus. In and out of the hospital, nurses, doctors, and other medical staffs literally risk their lives just to assure that the Filipino people can breathe better air inside their lungs, which apparently becomes a metaphor for us to have a better future.
Seemingly, we should try to also work alongside the unsung heroes of the country. Let’s play our role in preventing the spread of the pandemic. We should all help one another in fighting the virus. When we do these kind of things, we also become part of the light that the Filipino look up to for a better tomorrow.
Truly, we cannot deny the fact that the Filipino doctors and nurses are the everyday unsung heroes amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, they help develop and shape the future while at the same time fighting against the unjust system. Together, let us help raise their voices and be one with their fight.