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Vol. V, No. 34 October 2 - 8, 2005 Quezon City, Philippines

Public Health on the Brink of Death

The Philippine public health system is on the brink of death, with the government spending less than a peso for the health of every Filipino each day while up to 50 percent of the national budget is automatically earmarked as payment for onerous debts. Result: doctors, nurses and other health professionals, working for low wages in hospitals with substandard facilities, have been fleeing the country in droves in search of greener pastures. The worst affected, in the end, are the people, who are deprived of adequate health care – a basic social right.

By Jasper Almirante/ Bulatlat

Salungguhit literally means to underline; figuratively, to underscore or highlight.

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