The documentary showed the disheartening reality of the consequences of the lack of access to pre-hospital and hospital care in the Philippines. There are certainly a lot of factors at play on why pre-hospital care improves outcomes of patients, especially those with acute life-threatening conditions. First, pre-hospital care enables provision of standardized health care protocols administered by well-trained personnel. This is in contrast to what the documentary film portrays. In the documentary, the medications administered to the patient with tuberculosis are not the proper medications, thus possibly even worsening the patient’s conditions. Second, time is of the essence in diseases and accidents, especially in emergencies. What could have been saved, improved, or ameliorated could possibly worsen if there are delays. In the documentary, it takes approximately 3 to 4 hours for people from the mountain to descend to the municipal health center to seek medical advice and treatment. This shows an integral factor that should be considered in discussions regarding the improvement of pre-hospital care and the overall access to healthcare: the geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA) in the Philippines. GIDAs consist of marginalized populations that are physically and socioeconomically deprived of goods and services. Service provision in this population is difficult because it is geographically hard to gain access to them. Thus, more skilled healthcare providers should be distributed to GIDAs to eliminate possible delays and lack of access to quality health care. In the documentary, it was also mentioned that whenever someone was sick, first aid was given by the people. While bayanihan is something good and encouraged, patients in need of immediate medical attention may not be afforded the right treatment because people in GIDAs may not be adequately trained and well-equipped. It was also mentioned in the documentary that patients were only transported to the municipal health center when their conditions were already severe. This highlights the importance of timely quality health care, which, according to numerous studies, improves patient outcomes. Moreover, it was also mentioned that, sometimes, after walking for 4 hours, doctors were not present because of a conference. Even if geographical barriers are transcended, lack of well-trained personnel is still a grave issue that needs to be addressed. This has got me asking myself why there is no sufficient healthcare personnel in GIDAs. I believe that most, if not all, medical students have the heart to serve the Filipinos. However, individual love and passion for service are sadly sometimes not enough to address the needs of people in GIDAs. The entire healthcare system should also provide an enabling environment in which passionate medical professionals can best serve. The system should provide subsidized and even free medical training and education, provide sufficient equipment to enable provision of quality healthcare to all people, increase funding, partner with communities and GIDAs to know what the communities need and to help them empower themselves to live healthy lifestyles and observe proper sanitation and good hygiene, and to increase the benefits and pay of healthcare workers.
Despite the difficult life, lack of well-trained and well-equipped healthcare professionals, lack of access to basic healthcare, and lack of pre-hospital care, I have to agree with the documentary that there is still hope especially if the aforementioned proposed solutions are implemented. After all, health is a right.