PHM-Exch> ON THE CLOSURE OF 200 HOSPITALS Philippines

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: HEAD Philippines headphil at gmail.com

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*“Brain Drained Healthcare System” - HEAD *

“Brain drained by the brain dead Arroyo government.”

This is how Health Alliance for Democracy described the Philippine
healthcare system in reaction to reports on the closure of 200 hospitals due
to the lack of health personnel.

“The closure of these hospitals, as well as the handicap experienced by many
more due to the lack of doctors and nurses, is a clear indication of the
backward health policies implemented by the Arroyo administration,” declared
Dr. Geneve E. Rivera, HEAD Secretary-General.

“Greatest irony is that year in and year out, nursing schools are churning
out graduates, new nurses, by the thousands, not to meet the needs of
Filipinos but to meet the demands abroad, in developed countries,” added Dr.
Rivera. “Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself is the top promoter of
overseas employment of Filipino nurses.”

“More than 90,000 nursing graduates who took the most recent nursing board
exams. Of the 39% who passed, how many were absorbed by the public
healthcare system?”

For HEAD, the dearth of health personnel has been a long-standing problem
that the Arroyo administration has worsened instead of solving. The closure
of these many hospitals, as well as the partial shutdown of 800 more, is
only the tip of the iceberg.

According to the health group, Arroyo’s labor export policy is further
aggravated by government’s shabby treatment of health personnel who remain
in the country. As such, there are no more viable careers for nurses and
doctors here, especially in far-flung and in rural areas.

“Aside from refusing to provide for the appropriate remuneration and
benefits for health workers, the Arroyo regime now treats them as enemies of
the state.”

The health group is referring to the 43 illegally detained health workers,
whose arrest and torture at the hands of the Armed Forces of the Philippines
has sent a chilling effect on health personnel.

“Under the Arroyo regime, caregivers and health workers who go and serve in
areas not reached by government’s limited healthcare services are convenient
scapegoats, accused as rebels in the AFP’s counter-insurgency program.”

“Who will now make the sacrifice of going to the remote areas, when those
who do are subjected to abuse, torture, and humiliation?”

 Compared to previous administrations, the Arroyo regime is the worst.

“Whereas previous government health policies and programs were mainly myopic
and self-serving, those of the Arroyo’s regime are essentially brain dead,
without any care or respect for the rights of people to health services, and
the rights of health workers,” concluded Dr. Rivera.
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