It seems that the health care crisis continues to be a problem in the Philippines. We have been running out of health manpower as nurses, midwives and doctors go abroad. It seems that we have another thing to be afraid of – the Philippines is also running out of hospitals!.
The Philippine Medical Association (PMA), based on a survey, reported that the number of hospitals, both private and public, in the country has dropped by 55 percent in the last 20 years – from a total of 2,000 in 1987 to only 890 at present.
Further, the new government policy that prevents private hospitals from “detaining” patients until they settle their hospitalization bills will worsen the situation. It may lead to bankruptcy of more hospitals which may lead to a more deteriorating health care system.
To probably mask this worsening situation, the Department of Health denies the claim that this problem exist.
What do we really need to solve the health care problem? Simple, we need a sustainable solution. As I have observed, the government is always acting on impulse. The worsening education status of the Filipinos, for example, was thought can be solved by offering student loans. Although, this seems a promising solution, it will not really address the root of the problem – which is poverty. I think it will work, but only as supplementary aid for the purpose of defeating lack of education.
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Health, Personal, Politics, Social Issues Health, Personal, Politics, Social Issues
The Commission on Higher Education will be increasing its funding for student loans to P4 billion from P215 million, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reports. Due to this, student loans may soon be available from the government of as much as P30,000 per year to finance their education. This will serve as financial aid to less fortunate students and they can pay it later.
The funds could be availed of as early as the second semester of the current school year which begins in November. The student loan program’s bank is the Land Bank of the Philippines which has committed itself to providing some P1 billion in funding.
Further, the qualification standards will not be that strict so everyone can avail to it. The program will be available by the second semester this year and will be fully implemented by 2008.
With this increase in budget for student loans, the CHEd will be able to provide about P30,000 per year (or P15,000 per semester) to each of almost 200,000 student beneficiaries.
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Current Events, Education, Social Issues Child Care, Current Events, Education, Social Issues
“Like most things in life, when the smoking ban comes in force in England on 1 July, it will have unintended consequences,” BBC News reported.
Although the smoking ban was intentionally good, it has its consequences that may affect mostly children. Concerns was raised up about the effects of passive smoking to children.
If you can’t smoke at the pub and you don’t want a fag standing outside, where are you going to light up? At home? The jury is still out as to whether the ban will result in children being expose to more passive smoking at home, but one study of the US suggests it could be the case.
Economists at University College London studied the direct effect on passive smoking from different kinds of bans. They concluded parents smoke more at home if they can’t in bars or restaurants. Other bans, such as those on trains, shopping areas, or workplaces, do not appear to result in children being exposed to more harmful fumes at home.
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Health, In the News, Social Issues Children's Health, In the News, Smoking, Social Issues
The feared harmful effects of global warming are said to show up decades from now. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a draft document which focuses on global warming’s effects. The report, which is currently revised by over a thousand scientists from dozens of countries, will be shown at a convention next month in Belgium.
The report included these likely effects of global warming: Source: Yahoo! News
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Hundreds of millions of Africans and tens of millions of Latin Americans who now have water will be short of it in less than 20 years. By 2050, more than 1 billion people in Asia could face water shortages. By 2080, water shortages could threaten 1.1 billion to 3.2 billion people, depending on the level of greenhouse gases that cars and industry spew into the air.
- Death rates for the world’s poor from global warming-related illnesses, such as malnutrition and diarrhea, will rise by 2030. Malaria and dengue fever, as well as illnesses from eating contaminated shellfish, are likely to grow.
- Europe’s small glaciers will disappear with many of the continent’s large glaciers shrinking dramatically by 2050. And half of Europe’s plant species could be vulnerable, endangered or extinct by 2100.
- By 2080, between 200 million and 600 million people could be hungry because of global warming’s effects.
- About 100 million people each year could be flooded by 2080 by rising seas.
- Smog in U.S. cities will worsen and “ozone-related deaths from climate (will) increase by approximately 4.5 percent for the mid-2050s, compared with 1990s levels,” turning a small health risk into a substantial one.
- Polar bears in the wild and other animals will be pushed to extinction.
- At first, more food will be grown. For example, soybean and rice yields in Latin America will increase starting in a couple of years. Areas outside the tropics, especially the northern latitudes, will see longer growing seasons and healthier forests.
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Current Events, Life, Social Issues Current Events, Life, Social Issues
During my three-day duty at the OB-GYNE outpatient department, I was overwhelmed by the number of abortion cases. We had an average of five cases a day. At least one-third of these mothers had induced abortion, which means that they resorted to mechanical or chemical means to terminate their pregnancy. Usually they seek for consult because of fever and chills, and other associated symptoms of septic abortion.
Our city is just a small portion of the Philippines, yet there are already numerous induced abortion cases encountered. It made me think (or not like to think) of the rampancy of the case nationwide. Prolife.org say that every year, as many as 750,000 women undergo induced abortion in illegal “clinics” all over the Philippines. That’s how prevalent induced abortion is. It’s quite a frustrating number.
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Education, Health, Medicine, Politics, Social Issues Education, Health, Medicine, Politics, Social Issues
The Guimaras spill will create more disastrous outcome if we remedies and solutions will not be layed out as soon as possible. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources are thinking of using bioremediation to clear the spill. Three microorganisms – Pseudomonas azelaica, Serratia marcescens, and Xanthomonas maltophilia which are hydrocarbon-consuming organisms can help clear up 87% of the hydrocarbons from the oil.
The process will be costly though because one bioreactor cost $500,000. It’s a very big investment but this does not even suffice for the millions of lives that are affected if no solution can be come up to. Not only the livelihood of the fishermen are lost but also the billions of seawater lives.
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Current Events, Health, Politics, Science, Social Issues Current Events, Education, Health, Health Tips, health-articles, Health-Information, Life, Medical-Information, Medicine, Politics, Safety-Tips, Science, Social Issues
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