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Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Lawmaker wants Physicians Act declared 'urgent'
By Ruby P. Silubrico
ILOILO CITY -- Following the recent controversies hounding the medical profession, Representative Janette Garin of the first district of Iloilo is pushing Monday to declare the Physicians Act of 2008 as "urgent".
The Physicians Act of 2008 is an update of the Medical Act of 1959. It aims to regulate or stop the illegal medical practices and further strengthen the country's drive as Asia's hub for medical tourism.
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Garin, who is a physician by profession, said there's a need to push the passage of the said act in order to stop the illegal and unethical medical practices.
These illegal practices put shame in the country considering that Filipinos are among the world's best surgeons and medical practitioners, she said.
Garin strongly condemned the doctors' actuation in Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City wherein a 39-year-old patient who went to have a perfume canister removed from his rectum last January 3 was maltreated.
In her privilege speech on Monday, the lawmaker stressed her reactions to the recent scandalous and unethical acts committed by VSMMC's medical team, saying: "I am disgusted that some colleagues in the medical profession can be capable of doing such cruel acts. All of us in the medical profession swore never to do harm to anybody".
She also talked of the illegal operation by an engineer who pretended as a cosmetic practitioner using the name Dr. Eugene De Rossa or Dr. Eugene De Rossi. Rossi allegedly victimized some well-known persons in Iloilo, including a former city official.
Garin said she was shocked that a patient has to undergo illegal medical procedures performed outside the confines of hospitals and authorized clinics.
She cited information she gathered that the fake doctor is using a hotel as his temporary clinic and has booked 105 times in one of the hotels in Iloilo City, while performing illegal operations.
She added the need for reform as some laws and provisions are no longer responsive to the present scenario.
One of the provisions of the act is to strengthen the Philippine Medical Association's (PMA) move to mandate all licensed physicians to strictly follow a set of rules for the unquestionable ethical and legal conduct of the profession.
"We have to show to the world that our country is worthy and capable of being a hub of the medical profession. With the creation of such an investigative body, we will be able to show to the world that we have all the intentions and the political will to run after the people who endanger the Medical Tourism Program," Garin said.
Garin said everybody has the right to proper medical care and that nobody has the right to play doctor to achieve that care.
The government, she explained, is mandated to regulate and oversee the country's medical practices. "Needs and problems on medical care in the Philippines have evolved, so we need the approval of the Physicians Act of 2008," she added. (RPS/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Cebu. (April 29, 2008 issue)
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