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🇵🇭 A Citizen’s Cry for Dignity in Healthcare
By Dr. Tony Leachon
Today, a concerned citizen shared with me a heartbreaking video from East Avenue Medical Center. Under the scorching heat, she waited over four hours just to access free medicine through the Yakap program. The lines were long, the process slow, and the suffering visible—especially among our seniors and persons with disabilities.
This is not an isolated case. This is the daily reality in many government hospitals.
We must speak truth to power:
• The Department of Health under Secretary Herbosa has failed to deliver dignified, efficient, and compassionate care.
• PhilHealth is being defunded while case rates for top killer diseases remain dangerously low.
• Ghost hospitals and alleged corruption continue to plague our system.
• The poor are left to endure misery while officials remain silent or dismissive.
This is not just incompetence—it is a betrayal of public trust.
We call on the President, lawmakers, and health advocates to act now:
• Streamline access to essential services in OPDs nationwide.
• Increase funding for PhilHealth and raise case rates for heart disease, cancer, stroke, pneumonia, and diabetes.
• Remove VAT on essential medications.
• Investigate and prosecute corruption in the health sector.
• Restore dignity to every Filipino seeking care.
Healthcare is not a privilege. It is a right. And when that right is denied, we must raise our voices—not just as doctors, but as citizens.
Let this message be heard. Let this video be seen. Let this injustice be corrected.
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