If there is a will, there is a way. This belief I witnessed through my tireless doctor friends Willie and Anna Liza Ong while watching the second season of Makabayang Duktor. The insatiable desire of this husband-and-wife team to help the poor led them to produce this TV show which airs every Friday from 4:30 pm. to 5 p.m. on Channel 9.
The opening scene starts with Boy Abunda (the show’s pro bono creative consultant) who briefs them on the medical case of the day. Willie and Anna Liza then hie off to do their house call aboard a colorful medical van completely stocked with all necessary needs of the ailing patient.
The beauty of this reality show lies in its simplicity of heart. No, they are not veteran actors on a decorated set. Far from that. The areas they visit are mostly decrepit slums. These two simple caring individuals actually had to work on overcoming their shyness in order to fulfill a personal crusade to reach out to the needy through their medical profession. They took hosting classes in order to stand confidently in front of TV cameras. There is no hidden agenda here. They are happy to go the extra mile believing that as doctors, it is their duty to do whatever it takes to save lives. Their target: those who cannot afford to save themselves simply because they do not have the means, or don’t know how. Undaunted by several setbacks, they never lose faith nor hope.
“My goal as a doctor is not to earn money but to help patients get well,” Willie said. Since they were unable to get sponsors for their first season, funding for the show, medicines and supplies came from their own pockets.
I believe that one of the best ways to glorify God is by putting to good use the talents that he has given us. The Makabayang Duktor couple also subscribes to this.
Willie is a cardiologist, STAR columnist, book author, TV host and advocate for encouraging health workers to stay in the country. This 2007 awardee for Outstanding Filipino Physician is Cardiology consultant to Manila Doctors and Makati Medical Center. He is the president of Co Tec Tai Philippine Medical Museum. The museum was established by his family and named it after his very generous and loving father Mr. Co Tec Tai. This is the first and only medical museum open to the public for free. The museum’s goal is to help encourage health workers to stay and help their motherland.
For 16 years, Willie has also been the medical director of Pasay Filipino Chinese Charity Charity Health Center, which helps around 400 indigent patients per medical mission. His advocacy on the medical brain drain was featured in Reader’s Digest Asia and Lancet. The Associated Press has also written stories about him.
In 2005, Willie started the Movement of Idealistic Doctors (MIND) which now has a network of 2,000 young doctors and medical students. He also gives bi-annual free conventions to teach young doctors how to practice in the Philippines.
With the help of his devoted wife Liza, he has written and published eight books, including the Medicine Blue Book which is the best selling medical book with 130,000 copies in print. Other books include Cardiology Blue Book, Altapresyon at Pangangalaga ng Puso, Health and Life (in Chinese), Survival Guide for Doctors and Non Doctors.
Liza, on the other hand, is a family doctor. She is a director and organizer of Pasay Filipino-Chinese Charity Health Center Inc. and the CEO of the Society of Philippine Health History, Inc. She was named most outstanding intern of San Juan de Dios Hospital in 1994.
“She is someone I cannot work without,” Doc Willie lovingly claimed. God gifted him with the perfect partner who shares his burning passion to help the needy without expecting anything in return.
Through their first season of Makabayang Duktor, they have been able to help 90 families. “We feel so fulfilled. It’s like we are in another world whenever we shoot the show,” Liza said.
Now they are on their second season with the birth of something new.
“While roaming the squatter areas shooting Makabayang Duktor for Season 2, we met Hedeliza, a 40-year-old mother afflicted with a large and bleeding myoma in her uterus. She urgently needed an operation and five bags of blood in order to live. She also needed P20,000 for the operation. We paid for her operation and guided her until she got well. Now she is alive and walking. A miracle in saving a life for P20,000,” Willie said.
He added: “When I saw Hedeliza, I knew this was the template God wanted us to use for the Makabayang Duktor Foundation.”
And so started the template for their Makabayang Duktor Foundation again with Boy Abunda as honorary chairman. The couple envisions this to be a new version of Kapwa Ko Mahal Ko. It’s similar to Gawad Kalinga’s P50,000 to build a home. But for Makabayang Duktor Foundation, it’s P20,000 to save a life.
Yes, believe it or not but with P20,000, patients with conditions like thyroid and neck masses, myoma ovarian cysts, abdominal surgeries like appendectomy, gallstones, hernias, benign masses, childhood conditions and emergency surgeries can be healed. The only requirement is the patient must have a 90 percent chance of survival.
Realistically though, there are cases that cannot be covered with just P20,000 like serious cancers that have widely spread, very old, sick and weak patients, very high risk surgeries that will not lead to a productive life or expensive heart and brain surgeries.
Makabayang Duktor is committed to finding a cheaper and cost effective way to save lives by getting competent and trustworthy doctors to guarantee that money is not wasted.
Doctors Liza and Willie have a special way of listening to patients and their families. So they know that it’s not just all about money. They are showered with good guidance and sound advice which leads to the right decisions, very crucial to their healing.
God will make a way. Willie and Liza tell their poor patients to pray to God to send them donors, with a promise that whatever the foundation get will all be plowed back to helping others. Well, God apparently heard those prayers because recently, a big company called the couple to work on a project. “The money is heaven sent and we will give it all to the poor,” Liza said.
“Although the project has its pros and cons, Liza and I just look at our waiting list of poor patients still begging to live and the decision is simple. We need to save lives,” said Willie.
What more are these two kindred souls aiming for? “Hopefully one day we dream that our show Makabayang Duktor will reach the bigger networks so we can reach a larger audience.”
For this tireless couple, there is no end to the joys of giving.
(If you wish to be help or donate to the Makabayang Duktor Foundation, Inc.., please call 831-9842 or text 0915-7423462. You can also e-mail willietong@netasia.net. or visit www.docwillieandliza.com. Surely, with 20k, we can help save lives.)
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