Bruce Posted December 22, 2012 Posted December 22, 2012 Got an email today the baby in the hospital died today (my last night). On Thursday a woman doc from Tacloban passed through the hospital and saw the baby and told the grandparents that if they wanted the baby to live, that HAVE to use (this) medicine and it is about 3,000p. The grandparents refused the script because they had no money. As Mr. Gump used to say... Stupid is as Stupid does..... The script was FREE. It was the medicine that costs 3,000p and the doc was not selling the medicine as she was just passing through the hospital as a consultant. The grandparents later went to the charity and told this story and the woman who runs the charity asked the name of the medicine of which the grandparents had no idea... They were told to go back to the hospital and locate the doc or her number. They did and the doc was already back in Tacloban (70 miles away). They went back to the charity with the number and the chairty staff called the doc who said to bring the baby to Tacloban right away. They sent me an email, I am asleep (What! you all think I am at the girly bar in Manila! Ha! I am asleep in Florida) So I wake up feed the cats 3 cats and log onto the computer and get 2 emails. One telling me about the situation and the doc and the Tacloban issue and then other email telling me not to worry about it as the baby has died. I email back and they reply the baby is already taken away to their semi remote fishing village Ibol. No questions and certainly no answers about what caused this illness. I suspect foul play as the teen age mother is a moron and refused to take care of her baby in the past and the baby has gotten sick every time she is forced to take care of the baby because the grandparents must work (or starve). I remember after the baby was born and the girl did not want to do anything with it, and refused to breast feed, her breasts swelled up so much the skin actually split wide open through the areolas as the skin could not expand any more. So I suspect some resentment there. The 'husband / baby daddy' is about 20 and went off to work in a bakery on a different island and sent back only 500p a month. Leaving the baby alone with her mother when the grandparents were out working. Grandpa is a fisherman and grandma is a part time house helper. I say part time beacuse the was forced to take care of her grand daugher too often and as such many days did not go to work. Oh yes... The teenage mom is preggers again.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyno 47 Posted December 22, 2012 Posted December 22, 2012 bruce this is so sad a child can die just coz the the family could not afford the cost of the medicine,is there no system in place for the government to help in situations like this?regards lyno Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted December 22, 2012 Author Posted December 22, 2012 (edited) Well, the local government was asked to help already. But said no. Their 'help' means money, usually less than 1,000p and it is used to transport the sick / injured person off to Tacloban, where.... Out of sight, out of mind... no longer the local government's problem. I can see the government's point here in that they are confronted with help requests all the time. One thig that irritates me is that people like me and many other foreign governments make donations of medicine and equipment which is sent all over the Philippines. HOWEVER, there is no planning. The local hospital has already gotten donations from Germany of hospital diagnostic equipment what is far above the ability of the local staff, so the donations sit in a room upstairs. Further, there is no 'barter system' in place where one hospital with a donation of say, cardiac equipment and NO WAY to use it can trade that to a hospital that can use it and get in return something they can use. The local hospital in Catbalogan has a defibrilllator! I have seen it. It sits off in a room next to the emergency department and has never been used, not even plugged in, battery dead and there it sits. The local hospital is more of a first aid station for the poor. Paying patients get a 'little' more attention, but really anything more serious than a cough is referred to the poor hospital in Tacloban. Death is an everyday thing at this hospital. The staff as seen so many die they are well densensitized to it. I do not see anything changing. But as an American and more as a nurse, I see death like this for not real reason other than lack of care / medicine. Something we do not see so much in the US, especially in Florida when I am. However, in this case, I do suspect the mother of doing something. Then baby did fine in the grandmothers care, got sick when she was in the care of ther mother and was actually afraid to be left alone with the mother. Was showing signs of abnormally high attachment to the grandmother when the mother was around. There is an issue there. Like other posters have said, and I agree with, 'you' can't save the world nor even save the Philippines. Locally, here I have the charity based, the only real solution, and again this is locally only, would be to have a 'Bill Gates' come forward with enough money to build and fund a DAY CARE CENTER for the poor where the children can get 2 meals a day AND been seen by a semi professional person everyday who can do something before a simple illness results in (another) death. Edited December 22, 2012 by Bruce 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp52 Posted December 22, 2012 Posted December 22, 2012 why don,t you write bill gates and tell that story Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Support Old55 Posted December 22, 2012 Forum Support Posted December 22, 2012 bruce this is so sad a child can die just coz the the family could not afford the cost of the medicine,is there no system in place for the government to help in situations like this?regards lyno As I understand it the government (local and national) has built a few rural clinics and hospitals over the years. People go there mostly get little or no care because "out of stock sir". Bruce and other outside agency's are for the most part the only way poor rural Filipinos get care or meds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Support Old55 Posted December 22, 2012 Forum Support Posted December 22, 2012 why don,t you write bill gates and tell that story No! Go tell Noynoy! Go tell the corrupt greedy local, provencal, and national thieves who divert what little budget there is for indigent patents. Filipinos need to wake up but the whole culture for the most part is one of me... me.... me and corruption. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Hounddriver Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 (edited) I suspect foul play That sums it up. Telling Bill Gates or NoyNoy is not going to change the culture of: Life is cheap here. For Bruce: :icon_GreatJobKao: We can see you are doing the best that you can in a society that does not know how to appreciate that. Edited December 23, 2012 by Jollygoodfellow -fixed thingo 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Posted December 23, 2012 Author Posted December 23, 2012 I to not know anything about local governments building clinics. In my past writing on my site www.philippinebasicneeds.com there are pics of a clinic built with WHO money and then NOT ONE CENT for upkeep! It is the posting about me replacing the STOLEN 4' toilet pipe... As for telling Noy or Bill Gates... I think the amount of sob stories they get is staggering. This is one of the problems I have in collecting money for the charity. I take real pics and have real stories. While the 'big charites' go to great lengths to find the worst of the worst, maybe use some creative editing and make a tear jerker of a TV commercial. i do not do things that way.... Just try to make a positive change in a few lives if I can. With the difference between me, using all donated money for the charity and 'them' using as little as 5-15% for their charities ... and the rest for their $400,000 salaries .... But I am not complaining.... I am having fun doing what I do, well you know, between the dead and dying kids that is... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjp52 Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 Your story was better than any commercial I have seen 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okieboy Posted December 23, 2012 Posted December 23, 2012 yes i can see you want to help, i know a few people here that help , my brother in law is the same , but he does not realize what is inolved in starting a non profit, he was asking for donations from friends and family from the USA until found that is illegal unless you are 501C-3 with the IRS in the USA because those that donate want to clam it on taxes, in the Philippines you must register to take donations and be approved, alto i guess if you get caught you are just deported, we also thought about sending drugs and things thru freight forwarding but that is illegal also in the USA if caught it is a federal crime, here in the Philippines if caught you would have to pay VAT, unless you are approved, he is in that process now, and had to hire a lawyer to get thru the red tape, still waiting it has been a year 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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