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Tony Leachon
PMA warns of worsening shortage of doctors. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/01/30/14/pma-warns-worsening-shortage-doctors
Emmanuel 3D- Dispersal, Diffusion, Dedication
Daniel Most patients in the provinces can't
afford doctors. The government thought universal healthcare through the PHIC
will solve it. It just solved half the problem.
PHIC doesn't even pay for OPD consults. What, wait for
these patients to be sick enough to be admitted for insurance to start paying
for it? By then the healthcare cost could already skyrocket.
Ted The ratio should be 1 physician per 1000
persons. If we are 95million and we have 130,000 licensed isnt 1.3 doctors per
9,500 population? We definitely need more doctors! I believe PPP will be a
major solution as many of the doctors are in the private sectir.
Iris Hopefully UPCM Return Service will help and
that these new MDs will be encouraged to stay.
Minerva This issue definitely needs a
comprehensive analysis that considers demographics, changing practice patterns
and healthcare access. Most existing estimates of the shortage of physicians
are based on simple ratios. These estimates do not consider the impact of such
ratios on patients’ ability to get timely access to care and do not quantify
the impact of changing patient demographics on the demand side and alternative
methods of delivering care on the supply side. We are at the threshold of
collaborative practice which could be expanded to include the use of healthcare
teams of physicians, nurses, midwives. Telehealth is another option to address
timely access to care in remote areas. Improving allocations for physicians in
government, both national and local as well as improvement in facilities
through local government emphasis on health agenda is a must while we review
the Local Government Code.
As an educator engaged in organized medicine, I believe
we should also shift some of our focus in teaching medicine and include health
informatics, leadership and management of change, medical socio-anthropology
and immersion in public health issues in research, in elective rotations and as
part of case scenarios in medical subjects so that medical students will have a
grasp of the real world that they will face after medical school.
Ted If each private doctor accepted or was
assigned few poor families in consult and treatment under their care and
Philhealth paid for their servicrs, would that lessen the problem?
Daniel PHIC calls it capitation but its only
paid to the RHU doctors, which in most cases, the poor patients won't even find
in their clinics.
Adrian It might be time to consider Dr
Domingo's proposal for a national matching system. That will ensure a career
for doctors, while addressing distribution issues.
