Health and (Mal)development
by John N. Ponsaran
Consider the following points:
· A sickly population is counter-productive. Not only does it forego the chance of maximizing the potential of the population as a productive force, it also adds to the financial burden of the government.
· With the contemporary exodus of the health practitioners out of the Philippines, the country’s health is at risk. In most hospitals, a significant percentage of separation from the work was by way of resignation (less cases of separation by way of retirement and termination of contract). Majority of them complain about their over-worked, under-paid condition.
· The prohibitive cost of medicine in most developing countries has left the indigent population in the verge of death. As a consequence, health turns out to be a monopoly of the local elites.
· Bigger premium of the national budget is allocated to debt servicing and defense than health care—a paralyzing concoction. Budget cut on the health sector compounded by the high cost of private hospitalization has left the poor Filipinos in limbo.
· A healthy population is a sound socio-economic investment. A strong citizenry translates to a stable economic foundation. A viable economy results to a healthy population.
· The babaylans were the traditional healers during the Pre-historic period. In the name of expansionism, they were purged and labeled as the “disciples of evil” by the Christian missionaries.
· To a certain extent, Patch Adams is right. The field of medicine should have a humanistic face. It should be beyond biological healing.
· Wu wei (principle of non-action) is a sound guiding principle of Taoism in their day-to-day living. It sees everything as part of the interconnected whole. It defies artificiality, violence and friction. It promotes solidarity, naturalness, moderation, health and peaceful co-existence with the environment. The way of life of humans seems to be an outright violation of wu-wei—alcoholism, drug abuse, cloning, artificial additives, synthetic food, cyanide fishing, “Mcdonaldized” items, gluttony, inorganic fertilizers and pesticides.
· The rapid urbanization compounded by the poor administration in Metropolitan Manila lead to over-congestion, severe pollution and resource depletion which brought the population more vulnerable to accidents and diseases (e.g. respiratory problems, cardio-vascular diseases, etc.). Rural folks, on the other hand, suffer from the inaccessibility of health facilities, poor health education, intoxication from mine tailings, malnutrition brought by landlessness and low budget allocation for health care.
· Some people question the ethical and moral justification of the traditional practices such as the female genital mutilation in Africa, neck ring in Myanmar and foot binding in China. They argue that such cultural practices have serious health repercussion. How about food and medicine blockade? biological warfare? genetically modified food?
· The collusion between the drug companies and the doctor has resulted to the increasing cost of medicine. Quoted from a source, a drug company’s worst nightmare would be an epidemic of good health.
(This output is an outline of a reaction delivered in a Lambat-Liwanag Conference
by John N. Ponsaran
Consider the following points:
· A sickly population is counter-productive. Not only does it forego the chance of maximizing the potential of the population as a productive force, it also adds to the financial burden of the government.
· With the contemporary exodus of the health practitioners out of the Philippines, the country’s health is at risk. In most hospitals, a significant percentage of separation from the work was by way of resignation (less cases of separation by way of retirement and termination of contract). Majority of them complain about their over-worked, under-paid condition.
· The prohibitive cost of medicine in most developing countries has left the indigent population in the verge of death. As a consequence, health turns out to be a monopoly of the local elites.
· Bigger premium of the national budget is allocated to debt servicing and defense than health care—a paralyzing concoction. Budget cut on the health sector compounded by the high cost of private hospitalization has left the poor Filipinos in limbo.
· A healthy population is a sound socio-economic investment. A strong citizenry translates to a stable economic foundation. A viable economy results to a healthy population.
· The babaylans were the traditional healers during the Pre-historic period. In the name of expansionism, they were purged and labeled as the “disciples of evil” by the Christian missionaries.
· To a certain extent, Patch Adams is right. The field of medicine should have a humanistic face. It should be beyond biological healing.
· Wu wei (principle of non-action) is a sound guiding principle of Taoism in their day-to-day living. It sees everything as part of the interconnected whole. It defies artificiality, violence and friction. It promotes solidarity, naturalness, moderation, health and peaceful co-existence with the environment. The way of life of humans seems to be an outright violation of wu-wei—alcoholism, drug abuse, cloning, artificial additives, synthetic food, cyanide fishing, “Mcdonaldized” items, gluttony, inorganic fertilizers and pesticides.
· The rapid urbanization compounded by the poor administration in Metropolitan Manila lead to over-congestion, severe pollution and resource depletion which brought the population more vulnerable to accidents and diseases (e.g. respiratory problems, cardio-vascular diseases, etc.). Rural folks, on the other hand, suffer from the inaccessibility of health facilities, poor health education, intoxication from mine tailings, malnutrition brought by landlessness and low budget allocation for health care.
· Some people question the ethical and moral justification of the traditional practices such as the female genital mutilation in Africa, neck ring in Myanmar and foot binding in China. They argue that such cultural practices have serious health repercussion. How about food and medicine blockade? biological warfare? genetically modified food?
· The collusion between the drug companies and the doctor has resulted to the increasing cost of medicine. Quoted from a source, a drug company’s worst nightmare would be an epidemic of good health.
(This output is an outline of a reaction delivered in a Lambat-Liwanag Conference
on Holistic Health held in UP Manila)
