Nililimos na Karapatan: MAIFIP, the new face of pork barrel

Left with no other means to pay for her father’s mounting hospital bills, Ozan, a BPO (business process outsourcing) worker, found herself in a line at a local government office with medical records and proof of poverty in hand.

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She left her father at the hospital, desperate and scared, knowing every minute she spent away could be his last. Yet instead of being by his side, she was in a politician’s office, forced to endure long lines to beg for medical assistance that would extend his father’s life.

After all the humiliation, she received only a few hundred pesos. She was even told to post a Facebook photo thanking the politician. Her father died soon after.

Ozan shared this disheartening and horrendous experience during a press conference,* calling for an end to patronage-driven and for a rights-based health budget. Her story is not an isolated case; it reflects the reality faced by millions of Filipinos afflicted with diseases and stricken with catastrophic health spending.

It appears that, for the poor, attaining healthcare in the Philippines is now a complete circus. Indigent patients seem to have to go through an obstacle course, with one challenge being to beg a politician for a guarantee letter, also called a “GL.” For others who have no one to process their papers, medical treatment is forgone. They resort to self-treatment. Or they tragically die without ever seeing a doctor.

Some patients have had their applications for medical assistance denied after being compelled to move to private facilities due to the overcrowded public hospitals that could not provide them with care.