Healed but not free

Giving out P500 or even P5,000 to the sick and elderly might help them, but it does not solve the problem of the poor and the underprivileged. What we need are well thought out solutions to well studied problems. Not band aid and certainly not instant answers from the Malacanang spokesman.

Almost three weeks has passed since I wrote about ordinary heroes and the story of 15-year old “Jenelyn Mallari” who was the victim of a “hit and run” incident. In the first few days after the incident, Jenelyn was in a coma and only your collective prayers brought her back into consciousness. The weeks that followed have been a season of proof that compassion and sacrifice lives in the hearts of everyday ordinary Filipinos who have the ability to be heroes.

Since then, Jenelyn has undergone some type of cranial surgery to remove the blood clot, repair her skull, attend to her neck fracture and essentially get her back on her feet. By the grace of God who’s still in the business of giving miracles and the efforts of all of you, she is now ready to go home.

She is healed but not free. Given the seriousness of her injury, the P150,000 that we all put in the pot are practically spent mostly on medicines. According to Pastor Raymond de Guzman of Victory Church in Lipa, the last remaining balance as of yesterday was P30,000. I was hoping against hope that since “Jenelyn” was confined at the Batangas regional hospital (a government facility) the pot money would somehow cover it. Apparently it won’t.

The family has been advised to prepare approximately P400,000 more.

Having lived in poverty all her life, living in a guard house they call home, sharing a security guard’s salary between six kids and parents, and now hospitalized by a drunk driver in a “hit and run”, how are Jenelyn’s parents suppose to pay this bill?

I write about this because it is a recurring tragedy in the lives of ordinary poor Filipinos. It happens everyday, the same issues crop up but nothing systematic and organized has ever been done about it.

The guard probably has no SSS and even if he did, the benefits and the loan along with PhilHealth would not come close to P40,000 and certainly nowhere near P400,000. Camping at the PCSO with the help of Congressman Dong Mendoza and Mayor Oscar Gozos might produce a miraculous P50,000. Unless our Ate and Governor Vi digs deep into the trust fund of her bunso, Jenelyn and her parents will be staring at the hospital floors for a long time!

Why do we prioritize basketball courts, amphitheaters, arenas but not hospitals for the poor? One to two years before every election, local government officials conduct unnecessary road repairs, construction projects, and street lighting so they don’t have to return unspent budgets and for publicity.

Can’t we simply allow the money to be channeled to government hospitals under the oversight of the local government officials instead of the mandatory return to the government coffers? Why can’t congressmen legislate a law that would cover and pay for medical treatment in emergency life-threatening medical situations (only), particularly for real poor people.

If we really want to we could. We have the necessary people, structure and system that can easily implement or monitor such a program. We have employers, barangay officials, priests and pastors who know the real poor people. We have barangay health officers, city health officers, doctors, etc who can confirm a real medical emergency or a life threatening medical condition.

World financial experts have repeatedly warned that one of the major causes of people going bankrupt or poor overnight are major medical emergencies happening to people without enough medical coverage.

If the rich don’t have enough medical coverage, what chance or hope do the poor have in this life? As our Lord Jesus Christ said “the poor you will have with you always.” So if they are not going away or disappear, shouldn’t we come up with better solutions?

We don’t have enough hospitals and even those we have are becoming increasingly expensive but inefficient. We don’t have a national policy or system to cover for medical emergencies? We have limited funding sources and it makes no difference between an emergency and an ordinary disease.

If it all begins with medical insurance, it is about time that Congress studies how to provide emergency medical coverage for every Filipino. It would be separate and distinct from the PhilHealth in the sense that it will only apply to real and serious medical emergencies.

I hope that all the Batanguenos in government, in the administration, in Congress and business could come together and take the lead in spearheading this move for a nationwide solution to help Filipinos who are struck down by a medical emergency that can eat them out of house or home or make them hopeless enough to end their lives.

Let us create a law, a movement, a trust fund, a support group of doctors and surgeons, church people who will see beyond labels and politics and more importantly face the fact that accidents and medical emergencies hurt people many times and then imprison them in anxiety and desperation.

As for those wishing to help out “Jenelyn” you may contact Victory Church directly at: [email protected]

God be with you all and keep you safe from harm.