With (self) representative Garin muscling her way to headlines, with the failure of secretary Duque to take responsibility for the pandemic, with the reports of discrimination against health workers especially in residential areas,
Kumusta na kaya ang mga batang nangangarap –o mangangangarap pa lang– maging doktor?
What about the youth still dreaming –or only about to dream– of becoming a doctor?
I remember thinking I wanted to be a doctor as young as 5 or 6 years old. I had an orange plastic doctor set complete with real cotton balls and a not-so-real syringe. My dad was well-cared for by the doctors in St. Luke’s QC. I loved our pediatrician. I underwent minor surgery and barely remembered it. Aside from a brief media controversy over doctors as tax evaders, I never thought of the medical profession in a negative light. Ever.
I nursed that MD dream growing up.
So I’m anxious to think of the many bright lights dimming because of how badly this profession is now seen in light of crisis and corruption. There’s a thin line between serving others and self-sacrifice. It’s getting more and more skewed each day.
If I was born a little later, if I had to dream in the world of today, I might not have chosen the same undergraduate course or the same extracurriculars. I might not have become an almost-intern.
Or alternatively, would I have felt the pressure to join this uncompromising fight, to go against the poorest odds, to chase what feels like the impossible dream of evidence-based, compassionate, universal health care…?
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More thoughts on dreaming
Log: 07/July/2020
jari m 