Friday, May 3, 2013

Personal Note: My country's sometimes sad state of health care

The Philippines is moving up in the world. If you called it a third-world country, then you're dead wrong. We haven't been third-world since the late 1970's. But if you called us a developing country then you're sort of right. Here's a little story of mine living in a developing country.

I have an annoying skin thing called Contact Dermatitis which me or my doctor doesn't seem to know what the trigger is. My doctor has sent a piece of my skin to UP to a Skin Pathologist to confirm it is indeed contact dermatitis. My doctor is excellent, she's an expert in her field and I don't think anyone in the world would be any better. The point is I have access to good doctors and generally decent health care.

Then, my doctor said that I should get a skin patch test to figure out what's the trigger of my dermatitis so I can stop itching. Guess what, it isn't available in Cagayan de Oro but in Davao City, 400 miles south. To make it more "challenging", its only performed in a single hospital: Davao Medical which is now Southern Philippines Medical Center.

I never really understood this. Why the test is available is in Davao city and not in my home town? I have seen the test and it isn't that complicated.

Sometimes you just have to suck it up and deal with the sad state of affairs.

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