Sunday, October 29, 2006 Malilong: Prevention and cure By Frank Malilong The Other Side
ONE of the questions frequently asked since my discharge from the hospital was how much the experience cost me. A lot, I tell them. The angioplasty has made me infinitely poorer.
I am not complaining. I came out of the experience richer in many other respects. For example, I know that there are people I can always count on: family; the doctors, seven of them, who took care of me and didn’t charge a single centavo for their time; members of the Alay sa Diyos community who stormed Heaven with their prayer that I be safe; and the few really close friends who stayed by my bedside during those tense and dark moments.
My hospitalization also taught me never to take my health for granted, to watch my diet, avoid stress and other risks. Most of all, it made me fully appreciate that indeed, life is God’s gift that we should all be grateful for. I used to complain about how badly I played tennis and badminton when I should have been happy that I could play at all.
Still, I could not help but feel depressed, knowing that there are many who are not as blessed as the others, either with friends or financial resources. What happens if one day, an ordinary wage earner would experience the same agonizing chest pain that I felt?
He can go to a doctor, yes. But while there are government doctors who render free services, what about the laboratory and other tests to help guide the doctor diagnose what is ailing him? The ECG, the stress test and the angiogram cost a fortune.
And assuming that he can afford these tests or is able to get them free of charge, what happens if he is diagnosed with say, a defective valve or a clogged artery? The cost of a heart surgery can run up to almost a million pesos, an angioplasty nearly as much.
Sure, we have the Philhealth but how much does it offer to help pay your medical cost? It is not even enough to pay your hospital room bills.
In other countries, the people do not worry about such things as medical care because the government takes care of everything. Sadly, it is not so for us and, in all probability, will not be during our lifetime. Government has priorities (charter change?) and medical care is not one of them.
Thus abandoned, we can only pray that we don’t get afflicted with a diseased heart. Better still, do something to make sure it doesn’t happen: exercise regularly, observe the proper diet, don’t smoke, don’t get upset so easily.
Remember, an ounce of prevention is cheaper than a pound of cure.
