I can say that i was educated by the government of the Philippines. My elementary education aside, i have been taught in a public school during the formative years of high school and college. I have walked out of class to join rallies, see a pill box explode meters away from me, join students backed up against the wall as frat men chase each other w/ cutters, and ultimately see an unknowing college student gunned down to death and be rushed to the nearest hospital. But despite this seemingly morbid scenarios, I still value my public eduction, and it was instilled in my mind the real freedom that was given to me. I experienced the mass walk-out of students with professors included, when the people gathered in front of the EDSA shrine for the second people power. Seeing the senators and the generals walk by, as one by one they declared their support to oust President Estrada. I have never been so proud to be a Filipino. I have learned to sing UP Naming Mahal and the Philippine national anthem with my fist raised in the air.
And thus, I continue post-grad training in medicine in a government institution, and even pursue further residency training in a government hospital. I did try to embark on a private road for my residency training, but it was a failed course. "I wanted more learning" was my reason for leaving. And so i learned. I learned from the patients with different cases that we handled. I have taken on the knowledge passed to me by my seniors and teach them to my juniors and students. I treasured every teaching rounds done by the expert consultants as they showcase their skills. I am still at awe whenever I see a case that even with the most minimal of diagnostics, a severly ill patient can be pulled out of death, and have him walk out of the hospital alive. oohh! the learning was intense and cutthroat.
And i learned big time. What i got from my 3 years of residency experience in PGH was multi-tasking to a level unimaginable. I was not just a doctor, i was also a nurse, a social worker, a "manang" and a "bantay." No one was in charge of my patients except me. If i do not make rounds on my patients, no one will. If I do not re-order the entries of the fellows, they will not be carried out by the nurses. I've learned to prepare inotropes and hook them on a hypotensive patient. I have learned to mix antibiotics and push them thru the IV line of septic patients. I have begged for blood, run up to the blood bank to waive the crossmatching, and hook the blood to a patient with massive gastrointestinal bleeding (after a dose of hydrocortisone and diphenhydramine that is). I have pushed a dyspneic patient on a stretcher, through the crooked hallways of the hospital, up the rickety elevators to the echo room and have a massive tamponade stare at you for an emergency pericardiostomy. And I have begged for funds, sought the help of social service, talked to different charitable foundations, even the church to give a patient money so that she can have dialysis.
Three years of residency has not only taught me to have a thick face, to endure the roughness of the system, but to eventually be numb to the labyrinth of the hospital system. This bureaucracy must have trickled down from the high government to the lowest ranks in the hospital. I have learned to see the price of our freedom- the overflow of people and yet still have a shortage of skilled workers, the abundance of knowledge yet still see the lack of education among the people, the richness of our resources, but have poverty reek throughout the hospital.
Oh yes! Freedom has a price. And as i once again sing the national anthem, clench my fist, i am unsure if i should raise my hands or keep it on my chest. It made me think, is this the price of freedom?
