Doctors of the People
Donning white blazers,
many doctors stay in air-conditioned clinics serving well-off patients.
Some work abroad for higher financial rewards. There are even those who
trade their blazers for nurse’s uniforms just to be able to seek
employment abroad and bring their families along with them.
But there are also
doctors who work in understaffed public hospitals and make do with
whatever benefits provided by government. There are doctors who walk
through mountains to be able to reach and provide medical services to
people in remote areas who have been abandoned by the government. Without
the sanitized environment of hospitals and proper equipment; with no
nurses and attendants to assist them; they try the best they can to treat
patients and educate the people in primary health care. These doctors
live a life away from the comforts of the city; make do with a modest
allowance; and sometimes even risk their lives.
BY AUBREY MAKILAN
Bulatlat
Dr. Julie Caguiat:
From Exposuree to Trainor
Dr. Julie Caguiat
graduated magna cum laude in BS Zoology at the University of the
Philippines. She studied medicine at the University of the
Philippines-Philippine General Hospital, considered as the premier medical
school in the country. Thus, many were surprised and disappointed when
she decided to practice her profession in far-flung barrios. But even so,
she was able to find the “love of her life” in this less traveled path.
Heart’s desire
Ever since her
medical student days, Julie’s heart has always been for community service.
She was assigned in a farming community in Cavite, where she handled
mostly cases of respiratory infections and skin diseases.
“Siguro may
damdaming palaban nga sa akin, naaantig ako ‘pag nakakakita ako ng
mahirap, nao-oppress, dinadaya,” she said, “Sa
community, nakikita ko ang tunay na kalagayan, ‘yung need para
sa isang doktor, ‘yung maitutulong ko at ganundin, ‘yung naitutulong din
sa akin ng community.” (Perhaps I have a fighting heart. I react when
I see someone being oppressed and exploited. In the community, one sees
the true situation, the real need for a doctor. There I know what I can do
to help and what the community can do to help me.)
She has been
participating in the activities of the Community Medicine Development
Foundation (COMMED). COMMED is a non-government organization that seeks to
improve the health care system of the country, primarily by fielding
physicians in the different marginalized areas all over the country.
After her medical
school, Commed deployed her
to her chosen area, in Bukidnon, under the
HEALTH-Bukidnon, a community-based health program (CBHP).
The initial six-month
exposure/integration/training program designed for physicians interested
in community-based medical practice with COMMED has been extended to two
years.
Challenges
Family has always
been a major consideration in making decisions like this, said Julie.
Although her family
tries to understand her heart’s desire, she would sometimes be encouraged
to go home and practice medicine in a hospital.
“Kung saan ka
committed, hahanap ka ng paraan para magawa ‘yun,” (If you are
committed to something you would find a way to fulfill it.) she said. She
recalled that whenever her dad would ask if community service is required
by medical school, she would answer “makakatulong ‘yun.” (It would
help.)
Julie loved to hike
in the mountains when she was still in college. She was able to use this
skill to reach communities in Bukidnon.
Although her father
earns a lot working for a multinational company, they have lived a simple
life. Because of this, Julie never had a hard time adapting to the way of
life in the rural areas.
Receiving a very
modest allowance has never been an issue to her. There was even a time
when she was paying the allowance of two health workers who were assisting
her in Bukidnon.
“Kahit na krisis
dahil ‘di kalakihan ang sweldo, malayo sa family, kahit binabatikos
ka dahil minsan ‘di rin nila naiintindihan, nakakadagdag ‘yun sa
challenge pero hindi naman hinder para pagtibayin ‘yung commitment
mo,” she said. (Even the crisis I experience because of the modest
allowance, the separation from the family, and sometimes the flak I
receive from my family because they do not always understand add to the
challenge. But it does not hinder the strengthening of my commitment.)
With poor patients
Oftentimes she has
patients who cannot afford to pay, said Julie. But she always does her
best to help a patient. She would sometimes refer a patient to friends who
can contribute something to help the patient or to doctors who give free
or discounted fees to indigents. She also mobilizes the community’s
support.
One patient she could
not forget was a nine-year old boy. He was suffering from constipation
because he thought that a certain fruit was purgative and he ate a lot of
it which worsened his constipation. While health workers were holding the
patient, Julie was manually extracting the boy’s feces. When the feces was
extracted, the health workers almost let go of the boy. The feces was dark
in color and full of dead worms. They were nevertheless happy because the
boy experienced immediate relief.
There was also a
patient who came to them complaining of stomach ache. Their initial
diagnosis was ulcer but when they began to suspect that the patient had
stomach cancer, they referred him for further tests. Instead of
undergoing tests, the man sold his carabao for P10, 000 ($201.369 at an
exchange rate of $1=P49.66) and sought a faith healer in Cebu. The man
died after a year.
These instances are
not new to them, said Julie. Because of years of being deprived of
government health services, the people feel that they are hopeless.
Although, they try hard to explain to patients their illness and possible
treatments, many just give up knowing that they could not afford the
procedures, she lamented.
She recalled that
even a community close to the national highway never got the attention of
the local government unit because allegedly the community did not support
the winning mayor.
Her NGO is the first
health program to assist the community in a long time.
Trainor
After almost a decade
in Bukidnon, she was assigned to the COMMED national office in 2004.
As a training
officer, she guides volunteers and prepares them for community service.
She briefs them on what they have to do and how to do it, from networking
to organizing. She hopes that there would be more volunteers who would
extend their six-month training period to years of unrelenting commitment.
Not only did Julie
find her love in community service. She as well met her partner in life,
Dr. Gene Nisperos whose heart’s desire is to be of service to the people,
too. Gene was then her preceptor, a term used in medical schools to
describe a mentor or “supervisor.” Gene is a licensed chiropractic
physician supervising graduates from accredited colleges undergoing
hands-on training to be able to apply for their license to practice.
Her continuous
commitment to community service even when she had her own family already
proved to her parents that she is serious in pursuing this line of work,
or rather service. Bulatlat
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