OUR elderly continue to be victims of this pandemic. If not exactly with Covid-19, they become victims of situations with other sicknesses that were not given medical interventions. Should medical intervention be something they need, hospital protocols make it hard for them to access quality health services.
To clarify, it is not only the elderly that were covered by the kind of hospital protocols prior to admission or to be given medical attention. Hospital staff needs to determine first whether somebody brought for treatment is positive for the Covid-19 virus or not. That is the reason why among private hospitals, they have to evaluate the patients with symptoms that would seem to relate to Covid-19 or in case of doubts, temporarily bring them to isolation until the results would come out.
This situation, however, leads hospitals to charge patients 30 to 50 thousand pesos on the day of admission until the results for the RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) test will come out. In case positive for Covid-19, it could even be worst. If it is negative, the patient could be transferred to an even lower accommodation but subject to the determination of medical status.
I had experienced this situation for the past two weeks when I brought my 83-year old mom to a private hospital for treatment. She had pneumonia, though not associated with Covid-19, but we have to pass through the same protocols. This situation ushered the financial burden that rests on me as a son, and the same with others who have the same situation as me.
As I take a visit to my mom, her watcher would tell me that a family with a confined relative also has a similar situation with us. The family of the patient next to us, she said, shared that they have spent more than what we have spent for the past many days of confinement.
My mom got critical for the first week of admission and is still closely being monitored after intensified treatment of her infections.
I just take comfort in believing that for now, others may also be struggling with this pandemic. Thus, I am pacified that everyone will have to pass the needle’s eye and we hope to survive this test by the grace of the divine powers.
My friend, Pastor Gil Fernandez, also posted on his Facebook on his condition as an elderly. With his church members waiting for update on his health, he reported that on top of what he and his family suspected, he was negative for coronavirus. But we seemed to have a similar experience as we rush to get immediate medical intervention. Days before Pastor Gil’s test, he is also in a dilemma because hospital accommodation is a problem that should admission be urgent, he is also required to at least deposit P50,000 until his RT-PCR test results would come out. By many twists and turns, Pastor Gil was able to get tested on a government facility and later found out negative for coronavirus.
I have reflected on how actions and inactions are invoked and the way existing government policies respond to this situation. No wonder why there are so many cases of deaths among the elderly in this time of pandemic. Given that they are vulnerable to the coronavirus, those who were not infected with Covid-19 might not have the access to medical services. The only policy to protect them is to stay home to avoid the infection.
It is hoped supposedly that our health authorities should look at these matters other than the usual monitoring of Covid-19 cases and vaccinations. Our authorities should be proactive enough to look at the data that would tell them they need another type of intervention instead of putting all our eggs in one basket.
Also, the pandemic is already more than one year, we could have seen measures as part of our policy to look at private hospitals operation. The reason why we have government agencies that regulate hospitals is to ensure that they exist for the interest of the people. The authority given by the collectivity of people to government is, in effect, protection of their interests.
I hope they also knew we are in bad economic state and we cannot afford to add burden to our people especially with high cost of hospital services and accommodations.