Doctors’ group says medical tourism will commercialize health services

A group of doctors opposed yesterday the government’s "Philippine Medical Tourism" project, saying this would only further commercialize the country’s health care system.

Dr. Gene Nisperos, secretary general of the Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD), said the project is "more glitter than gold" and "should be regarded not just (with) caution but with firm opposition.

"Why is the Arroyo (administration) pushing for the commercial sale of our health services when it cannot even provide for the health needs of the vast majority of Filipinos?" he said.

Last month, the government launched the project which was designed to entice foreigners and Filipinos based abroad to seek medical and wellness services at participating health facilities in the country.

The project is also expected to prevent the exodus of doctors and nurses abroad because of its huge economic potential. The project is estimated to rake in $10 billion in annual revenues for the Philippines.

Globally, the health care industry generates some $2.8 trillion in revenues each year.

In Asia, the destinations currently favored by foreign patients are Thailand, which attracted around 600,000 patients in 2004; and India, which is new in the business but whose market is growing by 30 percent annually.

According to Nisperos, medical tourism is "not (the) strong medicine that heals but a poison pill that will hasten the demise of a public care system already on the verge of collapse."

He added the project was launched at a time when 50 percent of Filipinos die without receiving any form of health care.

"Medical tourism will significantly decrease services available to charity patients, even as it opens up services to paying patients and foreigners (or) tourists. Such institutionalized privatization of health care will only further marginalize poor Filipino patients," he said.

Among the hospitals tapped for the project are the Philippine Heart Center, Philippine Children’s Medical Center, East Avenue Medical Center, Lung Center of the Philippines and National Kidney Institute, all in Quezon City and ran by the government.

Nisperos said these hospitals have a huge backlog of charity cases that would be displaced even more with medical tourism.

Meanwhile, government health personnel rejected yesterday a plan to grant them an additional P1,000 monthly allowance, saying that what they want is a significant adjustment of their salaries.

Emma Manuel, president of the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), said the Arroyo administration should raise their salaries if it is sincere in giving relief to government employees.

Manuel noted that unlike wages, allowances could be withdrawn anytime.

"The P1,000 monthly allowance, if given, may be a partial relief for the cash-strapped health workers, but this is not even enough to offset the increase in prices due to the implementation of (the expanded value-added tax) this February," she said.

Recently, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading a uniform P1,000 increase in the monthly allowance of government personnel, including soldiers and policemen.

The House allocated P13.1 billion for the allowance, which is set to take effect retroactively, starting Jan. 1.

But Manuel said the allowance "may just be a trick to calm down protesting government employees, including health workers."

She maintained the government should, instead, give the P3,000 increase in salary that they have been demanding since 1998.

As a response to the demand, the Estrada administration gave a 10-percent salary hike in 2000 and promised another 10-percent increase by 2001. But the Arroyo administration granted only a five-percent hike.

Manuel said President Arroyo has not significantly raised the salaries of government employees since she assumed office despite the rising cost of basic commodities and services and new tax schemes.

"Since 2001, no budget for benefits has been allocated, causing delayed payment or non-payment of hazard pay and subsistence allowance," she added.