EDITORIAL - The high cost of health care

Ma. Jobel Calisaan died late Thursday. She lived just a little over three days — a very brief existence that was followed closely by the nation. Calisaan was the last of quadruplets born to a couple that couldn’t afford a good hospital. Three of the quadruplets died shortly after birth.

Even under normal circumstances, there are many factors that can compromise the survival of a newborn infant. These factors are complicated in the case of quadruplets, especially those that are born premature in the sixth month of pregnancy, which was the case of the Calisaan sisters. Doctors at the government-run Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital said Jobel’s lungs and immune system were still immature. The baby was acutely underweight. She succumbed to infection and respiratory distress.

And yet some people can’t help wondering if the quadruplets would have had a better chance if they and their mother had received proper health care. The four were born in a lying-in clinic, which lacked facilities for quadruplets so they were referred to the Manila Central University Hospital. Government investigators are still trying to determine why the hospital turned away the quadruplets. Mother and babies finally ended up at the Fabella Hospital – once the country’s top government-run maternity hospital, but now barely surviving on an annual budget of P243,000.

Millions of Filipinos cannot afford the services of private hospitals so the government is supposed to take up the slack. But what can P243,000 buy in the world of health care? That’s not even enough for the cheapest, simplest coronary bypass. Private hospitals can’t be blamed entirely for limiting their free services. Drugs and medical equipment do not come cheap. Qualified doctors and health workers are leaving in droves for better-paying jobs abroad, so private hospitals must make their salaries competitive. To remain viable and offer world-class services, a private hospital must turn a profit. But only a small fraction of the population can afford such services.

The tragedy of the Calisaan quadruplets is just the latest reminder of the sorry state of health care in this country. It is a problem throughout the developing world, and there is no immediate solution in sight.