I think it would be great to have a free medical help here in the Philippines. It would help a lot of sick people who can't afford to be hospitalized. However, would it change the health attitude of the Filipinos? Maybe. Not.

According to a study conducted by my sociology teacher, he interviewed people in rural areas about their attitude about health and the conclusion is that people basically wanted everything FREE, dole out. Fine, they wanted things free. We do have some freebies here. We have some medicines in the health centers, and people keep on asking for medications without having any symptoms at all, and since they know someone in the health center, they'll receive 20 tablets of mefenamic acid. But do they use it? NO! They just collect it. Do they go to Prenatal Checkup and immunizations in the health center which are free? No, they dont. Because they believe that any discomfort or changes in their body will disappear and they dont want to seek help until they can tolerate the symptoms anymore. The "Bahala na" attitude or whatever it goes is a culture here. When encouraged to seek medical help, most filipino would say "If I die then its the will of God". I hate it when they give up life without even trying. But when they experience difficulty of breathing or excruciating pain, that's the only way they'll ask for help. And sometimes, its too late.

Sorry for ranting. I was a public health nurse and currently studying medicine to be a doctor. It pains me when I worked as a nurse, there's only 1 doctor for a population of 30,000. And that doctor goes to the that province 1week in a month.