Philippine Healthcare in Crisis?

There is this news in the papers today that said that Philippines' healthcare is now in the verge of collapse. This is because of the apparent flight of doctors and other healthcare personnel to other countries for better paying jobs. With more than 200 times better pay in say USA or UK, and with the political undertainties here and all, the question is: who would like to stay in the Philippines?

Jossel Ebesate, general secretary of the Alliance of Health Workers, said the situation had become so bad that the country's healthcare system would collapse within the next two to three years.

Brain Drain, including in the healthcare sector, is said to have been going on since the '70s. From then up to now, there was no solution made to prevent it. Doomsday scenarios have already been painted many times over from long ago, but we are still here, and our healthcare industry is still growing. So, I do not believe the system will collapse in 2 - 3 years. What I believe in, though, is that the quality of healthcare is going, and will still go, down.

This "brain drain" has in fact also affected us. As a provider of healthcare equipment, we need medical technicians as applications specialists (Apps) to help us demonstrate our products and train our customers how to use them. Since 2000, we've had three 2D-Echocardiography Apps. The first one who worked with us on part time basis, Charles, who by the way was also my colleague way back GE times, is now in Saudi Arabia. The next one, Vin, who also worked with us on part time basis while waiting for his documents to go abroad, is now in Canada with wife and kids. Vin's wife is a vascular technician, another healthcare practitioner. The third Apps we've had, Regi, who worked with us full time (for almost 2 years?), is now in UK. Now, our Apps, Jane, although still working for us full time, is trying to complete her papers to go to the USA. Although we prefer that they stay with us, and we think that the salaries and benefits we provide are among the best locally, there is just nothing we can do to stop them from going abroad (at this time). We just cannot compete against these UK, US, Canada or Saudi employers who pays talents by the hour at a rate approaching to what we can give in a week!

So I guess we have to live with it. But there is something that we do that somehow helps the country avert what others say is the impending healthcare crisis. MEDEV has developed and now provides training to Cardio-technicians (our customers) on how to perform cardio-diagnostic procedures. Regi actually started and developed the training program and Jane now currently and regularly gives it to our customers who need it. To date, we have a number of "graduates" whom we taught from scratch but now can perform 2D-Echocardiography exams that are at least acceptable to cardiologists (2D-Echocardiography readers). We can also provide basic ECG training and performance of ECG procedures (including stress and holter ECG).

Of course, I still dream of the day when no one needs to go abroad to work. At MEDEV, we will strive to do that for our employees.