A Doctor's Appeal for 3,000 Poor Patients - By Dr. Willie Ong (Video #44)

A Doctor's Appeal for 3,000 Poor Patients Needing Heart Surgery

By Dr Willie Ong (Internist-Cardiologist, Manila, Philippines)

Dear friends and colleagues:
If you have some time, please watch my video and learn about the sad plight of over 3,000 poor patients in our country. Your suggestions are much appreciated. Thank you. - Dr Willie Ong

I made this video to share my experience in our country. Hopefully we can exchange ideas and maybe come up with a solution.
Being a cardiologist, I have been treating many young patients with rheumatic heart disease. One such patient I remember is Rodel, age 21 at that time. He had a severe case of rheumatic heart disease. I advised immediate surgery but with no charitable institution to shoulder such expense, I saw Rodel’s conditions deteriorate.
Try as I may, I will never forget the look in his eyes the day I last saw him. A mixture of sadness and anger was in his eyes saying: “It is your duty and the government’s duty to care for poor people like me.”
The problem is this. In the Philippines, just like in other developing country, we have an estimated 3,000 poor patients waiting for heart surgery. But if we really look for these cases, I’m sure there will be much more.
Many of these patients are young, mostly in their teens to thirties. They suffer from rheumatic heart disease or a congenital heart disease.
Rheumatic heart disease is still common in developing countries. The heart valve or valves are damaged because of an infection, usually coming from the tonsils. When the valve is damaged, blood flow becomes turbulent, the heart gets bigger and bigger until it fails. We want to replace the damaged valve before the heart failure worsens. Therefore, surgery is necessary for most patients.
The problem is the long waiting time for surgery. Most of these cases are lined up at the Philippine Heart Center.
The surgical cost of private care is enormous around, 500 to 800 thousand pesos. For a charity case, the cost may come down to P150,000, which is around $3,300. However this amount is still not reachable for the average person.
And even if they had this money, they have to wait several months before getting their next check up. Many patients just give up and eventually die.
This problem with these patients needing surgery has been going on for decades. I’m not sure if it can be solved in my lifetime because there is no decline in the number of cases.
In order to raise money in the Philippines, you can only go the Philippine Charity Sweepstake Office which operates the lotto. However, the waiting time is long and many people just give up.
For our poor patients, even the cost of a 2D-echocardiogram is prohibitive. They can’t even buy their maintenance medicines, how much more the cost of surgery.
Despite the hardships, the Filipino is kind and patient because they do not demand for health care. Actually there is no pressure for government institutions to supply their need.
In this video, I am not blaming any single person or institution. I want to look for a solution.
If the government can pitch in some money, then that would help a bit. Who knows, maybe other governments and experts may like to help too. But we have to do something.
And so, I am appealing to my fellow doctors and the public to look into this huge number of poor and sick patients. Do you have a better strategy? Can we talk to these companies who make these heart valves so we can buy it cheaper?
To our patients, please share my posts and videos, hopefully it will reach the right people both here and abroad.
I know people will say that what I am hoping for is a long shot. But I don’t believe in impossible. I am praying for a miracle.
I have a feeling that people will come and help save these patients.
We all know that the longer we wait, more patients will die. These patients are neither nameless nor faceless. Just here in my Facebook Page, I get thousands of appeals for help.
It’s been 15 years since I last saw my patient Rodel. I doubt if he is still alive. Yet, there is not a time that has passed, when I have not thought of him. I’m also thinking of the 3,000 Filipinos in the same situation as Rodel.
We cannot just let them die. Let’s give them a fighting chance.
Thank you for watching and God bless everyone.

Watch the Video Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLKVmzHWNcI