Without the White Coat
UNILAB... tuloy po kayo
It has been weeks now that I have been holding on this article for it could have seen its publication last Friday, but due to the hectic schedules and time availability I have to make a choice between this and another article entitled "Downpayment first before medical treatment" which will get your palates and tongues wagging for more controversies happening in this medical institution in Metro Iloilo.
While the spirits are still high and the iron is still hot after the conclusion of the well attended and successful 18th Midyear Convention of a medical specialty, the hospital lobbies and waiting rooms of doctors in a Catholic medical institution has been pasted with stickers banning a 100% Filipino-owned pharmaceutical company (UNILAB) from detailing their products to their doctors. After this "prestigious and well-respected" medical society or "college" had called for a total ban on all UNILAB products and coverage of its professional medical representatives on all the members of the "college" for a span of one year (so what will happen after one year, we welcome UNILAB again to sponsor us?), due to an incident that happened during the fellowship night of the college, which was held at the grounds of the famous Lizares Mansion in Tabuc Suba, Jaro. Details on the whole incident may not be clear, but why call for a total ban of all UNILAB products for one year? A number of famous and successful cardiologists coming from Baguio swear that the fellowship night was a very successful occasion, without even noticing the words on the background of the band promoting a "salt".
The total ban of UNILAB products by this prestigious college may have its double sword effect, since they won't get a 100% support form all the practicing physicians in Metro Iloilo, little pockets of opinions and opposition is now seen which may later on be seen as a support for this "poor" pharmaceutical company, the top honcho of the college and the leading management staff of this pharmaceutical company should have sat down first before any sanction could have took effect. It could have been a move of a specialist physician that went "ballistic" on the fellowship night as "he" saw the "salt" going up on the back of the band together with the blasting and glaring fireworks in the background, it was also the same "fellow" that have threatened to withdraw all the UNILAB products from a medical institution in the "grand" avenue, which have sent some shivers on the hospital administrator, but the intervention of the "old man" of cardiology sees to it that it will never push through. Perhaps the "old man" just can't bear the impact of the said move. Imagine pulling out all UNILAB stocks and products from the pharmacy? Then who should suffer financially? It is not the "ballistic" specialist (who share his medical office with the "slickster"), but the medical institution because all the earnings will go the surrounding pharmacies in the neighborhood, a reason why the "old man" had put his best foot forward.
I took a stand because along the way our patients will be asking us why we change their medications. I think as physicians and doctors we are accountable to "all" our patients. As one famous and caring cardiologist and family physician had placed it "PATIENT CARE SHOULD COME FIRST" and we all agreed with him that's why in our academy we never ban UNILAB medical representatives from detailing in our medical office and clinics.
"Bayanihan" was first exemplified by UNILAB as a Filipino tradition of cooperation and comradeship that remained among Filipinos for centuries now... working together, sharing the fruits of achievement, it is a commitment of a Filipino pharmaceutical company to deliver affordable, high quality medicines(Therapharma -pharmacoeconomics and Ritemed, Biomedis- The Joy of Caring) within the reach of the common Filipino which is depicted on the back page of the college souvenir program (October 18-20,2006). It is the pharmaceutical company UNILAB that is now "undersiege" maybe for a year, its medical representatives may suffer from low quotas or sales, but to think about it, who made the decision to ban UNILAB? The big question still remains, since what was involved was only a division of UNILAB why ban the whole pharmaceutical company, which remains to be answered only by the top honcho of the college.
Hopefully, for those who have supported the ban during its first week, seen putting stickers on the outpatient department of a Catholic medical institution then you should let your patient know. (Kawawa naman ang pasyente nyo since you'll shift them to a more expensive brand or medications) There was also a plan to go on with the ban on UNILAB products on a national level, but think about the "double sword effect" of the measures that you will do, and hopefully nobody will do a "Pontius Pilate" or an "Alfredo Lim". We may promote health, quality of life, and the management of diseases and always forget that the patient in front of us is a living, breathing human being that needs sympathy, empathy and compassion as a "caring" physician not as a "treating or curing physician". We should start basically on our training programs teaching our residents how to deal with the dying patient and his family, and how we could add "LIFE", and not years on the remaining years of his life. How do we see ourselves as a "complete physician", if we don't have the compassion to care for our patients, caring for our patients comes first, thus forget that the expertise that we all learn as specialist in our different fields of endeavor will all render us "ineffective healers'.
UNILAB (United Laboratories,Inc.) had already made its commitment of unending service to the Filipino people and as doctors and physicians we have a lot of support from this "all-filipino pharmaceutical company". For the medical representatives of UNILAB, pasok po kayo, tuloy po kayo, UNILAB products are proudly and bravely supported here, thus I make my stand.