Providing medical emergency care to patients reduces morbidity and mortality in the transition from crisis to definitive care. In the Philippines where most hospitals are situated in metropolitan areas, patients in GIDA are able to receive proper medical attention through prehospital care. In settings wherein appropriate definitive care is inaccessible, pre-hospital emergency care then becomes the end-of-spectrum intervention to improve health outcome. Be it the preliminary, transitory, or definitive care that is given to patients, pre-hospital care indeed plays a part in making health care accessible to even the farthest communities.
In the documentary, we saw many patients in Bansud, Oriental Mindoro who are in need of urgent medical care. They had to travel by foot for hours just to go to the nearest doctor. While we did see an improvement in their condition afterwards, it gives me the impression that this kind of system is unsustainable. The issue of lack of funds and accessibility is still a major obstacle.
Looking at pre-hospital care at its conventional definition of emergency medical service already provides some benefit; however, it may be more significant to expand its definition to all health service that occurs in the "pre-hospital" continuum of care.