Friday, February 28, 2014
Petition to His Excellency Pres. Benigno Aquino.
That a certain amount from the budget alloted before to the pork barrel be given to PhilHealth to increase the number of free dialysis sessions to at least 100
- Petition byCebu City, Philippines
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Dear Mr. President,
According to a 2012 report, at least one Filipino dies every hour of kidney failure making it the number nine killer of Filipinos. And this number is expected to increase.
Quoting Neal Cruz in a 2010 Inquirer article, patients in end-stage kidney disease or kidney failure “…is actually a permanent disability worse than losing an arm or a leg because you can survive indefinitely without an arm and a leg but you cannot survive with failed kidneys.” It is to be noted that in other countries like Japan or Australia, their government pays for dialysis treatments as they consider kidney failure a permanent disability.
Surviving kidney disease patients continue to live because of either kidney transplant (which only few appear to avail of despite the Philhealth Z package) or dialysis (which appears to be chosen by the majority of these patients). For the year 2010, around 14,000 Filipinos are undergoing dialysis. However many other patients have also died because of inadequate or lack of dialysis treatments.
A patient undergoing hemodialysis in order to live will have to spend roughly six thousand pesos (P6,000.00) or higher per session for hemodialysis, dialyzer and erythropoietin injections. The estimate does not include yet blood transfusions some patients undergo during hemodialysis on top of the medications they are already having. This cost is tripled taking note of the optimum standard frequency of dialysis treatments of three times a week. Thus, patients resort to cost-cutting measures like dialyzer re-use, skipping erythropoietin injections and even skipping hemodialysis sessions compromising not just their health but their life.
It is clear that because of the lack of financial resources, only very few can actually afford thrice-a-week dialysis without financial help. Dialysis patients are thankful of the 45-free sessions given through Philhealth which is equivalent to a once-a-week dialysis. But given the function of healthy kidneys removing toxins in the body in a 24/7 basis, a once-a-week dialysis is not enough to sustain life.
With the landmark decision by the Supreme Court declaring the pork barrel as unconstitutional, funds that were allotted before to the lawmakers’ pork barrel will now be available. To recall, some of the beneficiaries of these pork barrel funds are hemodialysis patients who now have to look for alternative sources of assistance.
With this development, may we humbly request that a certain amount be given to Philhealth to increase the number of free dialysis sessions to 100 (equivalent to twice-a-week dialysis sessions)?
If Philhealth can subsidize P600,000 to patients who will undergo kidney transplant, why not increase the no. of free sessions to patients undergoing dialysis enough to be able to have at least twice-a-week dialysis sessions? This will benefit more kidney failure patients increasing their chances to have adequate dialysis. In turn, those who are able to have adequate dialysis will continue to be productive despite their condition.
An increase in free dialysis sessions will certainly be welcomed by hemodialysis patients who badly need any assistance they could get and will be consistent with the government’s target of universal health care. Giving a budget for this directly through PhilHealth will make it less prone to corruption.
As our President, we the undersigned patients, family members, caregivers and friends of patients are counting on your support to help the increasing number of hemodialysis patients throughout the country to have a chance at life. Please help us.
To:
His Excellency Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines
Dr. Enrique T. Ona, Secretary of Health
Alexander A. Padilla, PhilHealth President and CEO
Florencio B. Abad, Secretary of Budget and Management
His Excellency Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, President of the Republic of the Philippines
Dr. Enrique T. Ona, Secretary of Health
Alexander A. Padilla, PhilHealth President and CEO
Florencio B. Abad, Secretary of Budget and Management
That a certain amount from the budget alloted before to the pork barrel be given to PhilHealth to increase the number of free dialysis sessions to at least 100
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your name]
News
- Reached 250 signatures
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Tuesday, February 25, 2014
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Post by Gr8 ppl , Gr8 thoughts.
Grow old with someone you love. Despite individual's uniqueness and imperfection, we have learned to accept each other for what we are. We give as well as we receive yet willing to sacrifice oneself for the good of our loved ones
Grow old with someone you love. Despite individual's uniqueness and imperfection, we have learned to accept each other for what we are. We give as well as we receive yet willing to sacrifice oneself for the good of our loved ones
10 Things You have to Give Up
10 Things You Have to Give Up to be a Doctor:
1. Your desire to be wealthy Very few people in medicine ever become hugely wealthy, at least not in Europe. If riches are what you desire there are many many easier ways of getting that involve alot less heartache, money and stress. If you want to be a millionnaire before you’re 30, my advice would be to avoid university altogether. Most doctors are in the profession for genuinely altruistic reasons as well as the satisfaction that comes from knowing that you have the skills and knowledge to save lives and apply these every single day as a routine part of your work. 2. Your desire to change the world Equally you must, eventually, give up on the idea of becoming some sort of medical superhero who can solve the worlds medical problems one by one. Yes doctors can do some impressive things when applying their skills to the right situation. But remember that however good your intentions, you will not be able to overcome the problems caused by poverty, war, government neglect or abuse, or coorporate profiteering at the expense of the sick. That doesn’t mean you can’t try to help people afflicted by any of these, you’ll just find that you are usually too small to make any real systemic difference. 3. Your free weekends It starts at medical school when the work starts to pile up, and weekends are sacrificed to meet deadlines and for exam revision. Once you start working as a junior doctor, you’ll find yourself scanning each new doctors rota to work out where your on-call weekends have landed and who can swop with you so that you can still go on that holiday or get married or whatever. There will be sunny weekends when your non-medic friends will be having a barbecue whilst you sweat it out on a ward seeing yet another gastrointestinal bleed wondering why you chose this path. 4. A good nights sleep Gone are the days where doctors would be on call for 48 or 72 hours and then do a clinic for the boss before retiring to bed. However, modern working arrangements have brought into existence the ‘week of nights’ where you work 4 or 5 and sometimes 7 night shifts in a row. As someone who has done these I can confirm that doing nights is pretty inhumane. The talk amongst doctors doing nights together often centres around changing specialty or leaving the profession. Don’t worry, it all gets forgotten once normal daytime duties are restored. 5. Your desire to avoid feeling like a fool You will make mistakes from time to time in this job and your mistakes will all be potentially serious ones, simply because everything you do affects your patients’ lives directly. Furthermore, there will be times when you have to withstand an onslaught from senior doctors who feel that teaching by humiliation is the only way forward. You will feel like an idiot at times and if the thought of that frightens you you should promptly pick a different profession. 6. Your desire to always put friends and family first As a doctor your job usually takes priority and you simply cannot shirk your responsibilities simply because you have prior engagements of a personal nature. Over the years I’ve known many difficult situations including a colleague who had to turn down a role as best man for a close friend because nobody could swop his on-call weekend with him and the hospital refused to organise a locum to cover him. Apart from sickness or bereavement, your first priority will be to your profession. Your friends and family may find that difficult to understand at first. They’ll come round to it with time, especially once they delete your number. 7. Your desire to please everyone Whether it’s your friends or family, as above, or your future patients you’d better get used to upsetting people from time to time. Telling your wife you need to postpone an evening engagement because you are still operating on a difficult case, or telling a patient you won’t be operating on them as they only have three months to live, are both likely to be met with upset. Each situation has it’s unique challenges and needs some communication skills, but the bottom line is that you will have times when you will have to make someone want to either hit you or cry in despair. 8. Your creativity Not many people admit this but medicine takes people who are often very creative and turns them into workaholic, automatons who have little room left in their lives for creativity. If you want evidence for this, go to any dinner party that includes more than one doctor. Chief discussion topic will be work and medicine. That’s partly because anecdotes from doctoring are entertaining, but also because if the medics stray from this conversation topic, they will rapidly expose their banality and limited insights in other areas particularly all things creative. Much of medicine does not allow much creativity in it’s day to day practice and the intensity of the work beats any desire for creative thinking right out of you before you even realise it’s happening.* Of course whilst accepting this fact you must fight this tendency and attempt to keep up your other interests, otherwise, I can guarantee medicine will invade everything you do. 9. Your desire to stay in one place / live close to friends and family Want to do something competitive, like medicine? You have to realise that choosing your location is a luxury and you may have to follow your dream in a less than ideal location. Even after you graduate, having your heart set on one speciality is a sure way to geographical instability. Some people don’t mind this, but some with strong family ties or a mortgage, the need to move frequently is a pain. I began to come to terms with this when I found that even the most obscure places have hospitals. Working in these places you’re just as likely to meet doctors who have also had to move from here from the other side of the country. It’s a great way to meet people but easy to lose touch once you move on. 10. Good health You may not know it, but you’re joining a profession that has high rates of physical and mental illness as well as drug and alcohol misuse. Doctors are also less likely to seek help than other professions which all adds to a rather worrying picture. Although ill health isn’t guaranteed in a medical profession you should realise the future risk now and take steps to formulate good lifestyle habits to minimise your risk factors. A good network of non-medical friends should also protect you from neglecting your own needs while you’re treating your patients. Read More: 1- The Best Movies For Doctors And Medical Students 2- The Best 15 Free Android Medical apps for Doctors and Medical Students 3- Being a good medical student doesn’t mean you’ll be a good doctor 4- 30 Basic Skills Every Doctor Should Possess 5- The Most Stupid Five Medical Mistakes Join Us On Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/facultyofmedicine
Read more at: http://forum.facmedicine.com/threads/10-things-you-need-to-give-up-to-become-a-doctor.16769/
Monday, February 24, 2014
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