Veteran doctor still serves to stop COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — At age 72, Dr. Antonio Garcia believes it is not yet time to retire, even with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spreading and claiming the lives of health workers in the country.

Since earning a degree in medicine at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and passing the board examination, Garcia has been continuously  practicing his profession for the past 47 years.

“Sometimes, retiring comes to mind, but such thought has always been overcome by the duty of being a doctor and my desire to help people,” Garcia told The STAR over the weekend.

“It’s my childhood dream to become a doctor,” Garcia said, noting that he was inspired to become a physician while seeing his doctor-aunt attending to sick people from their community.

Garcia previously provided medical services in the provinces, but now works as one of the more than a hundred members of the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) medical division.

The medical team composed of doctors and nurses provides the necessary health services to both international and domestic passengers as well as stakeholders, airport users and personnel.

At the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic in January, the medical team of MIAA was practically ill-equipped and unaware in dealing with the virus that some of the arriving foreign passengers carried it upon entering the country.

Garcia admitted he is also frightened about the possibility of infection.

“I am also scared because we are at the frontline of this fight against COVID, and we don’t have enough personal protective equipment. Besides that, I am vulnerable because of my age,” he said.

Garcia added that one of his daughters, also a family doctor, and her husband are doing their own part fighting the spread of COVID in the United States. His son-in-law is now under quarantine after treating a COVID-positive patient.               

Garcia, however, said he still willingly takes the risk because it has become automatic for him as a doctor to treat people, even those infected with contagious illnesses.