Anti-detention bill

The anti-detention bill underwent its final reading and is expected to be signed into
law by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on June 2007.

This bill stipulates that a patient can't be detained in the hospital if he or she couldn't pay one's
hospital bill.
The bill did not consider medical institutions like hospitals and its medical practitioners and staff.
Juan dela Cruz was never taught how to save for the rainy days. For every peso he earns, he sets
aside 50 centavos for his food and clothing, 30 or 40 for cigarettes and alcohol and a measly 2 to
3 cents for his health.
In this bill, the losers are the medical institutions who will pick up the tab of the patients because
they can no longer be forced to pay such. Opportunistic Filipinos will take advantage of this. So,
how can medical institutions survive?
Therefore, the problems of the health care system should be addressed properly by those who run
it and should not push these to the private medical sector.
What has the country come to?
We have to fulfill our obligations and that includes settling our bills and should not be left for the
government or other institutions to pay for.
This dole-out system in medical care is dragging us to the ground. Thus, we cannot blame our
medical practitioners if they go abroad.
With the exodus to other countries, we won't be left with physicians to care for the sick.