The search for workable health missions

SAN JUAN, Metro Manila--FILIPINO-run health mission groups want something more.

But it’s not only more donations, or more opportunities to go back to the Philippines and have their members personally take care of poor compatriots.

What these groups want was that medical and surgical missions, an annual ritual by development-oriented health professionals abroad, can be more that just one-shot visits and tourism sorties.

“We got to start thinking of ways how we can improve the conduct of medical and surgical missions,” said Philippines-born surgeon Domingo Alvear, founder of the World Surgical Foundation based in Pennsylvania, USA.

WSF, together with US-based health groups such as Physicians for Peace-Philippines and Community Care Missions and the Philippines-headquartered Give Kare (GK) Health Foundation, all agreed that people doing annual medical and surgical missions must begin to think of long-term strategies for health missions from abroad to improve health care in the Philippines.

A recent meeting by these groups revealed an obvious reflection: one-time missions cannot do much to improve health service delivery in the Philippines.

This conclusion was validated by a 2002 study by three doctors of the University of the Philippines on the role of all types of medical missions to the country’s health system: “Medical missions alone cannot solve the long-term health needs of the Philippines,” wrote the report, published in Public Policy, the academic policy journal of UP.

That study, done for the Department of Health, surveyed the work of identified medical missions over a two-year period, both done by local and overseas groups.

“What we hope to have is that multiple health missions will complement existing health programs to cover various areas of health care - primary health, hospitals, community, among others,” GKare executive director Dr. Jose Yamamoto said.

Meeting attendees recognized a need to further study the issues surrounding medical missions (see table beside this story), and were aware that many Filipino groups abroad doing medical missions will not always welcome bold steps for long-term health care delivery.

“That’s the sad part,” says Dr. Offie Maristela of Community Care Missions, whose group adopted a hospital in Pasig City, Metro Manila for two years already. “Our approach did not sit well with other Filipino groups when we shared our adopt-a-hospital project to them.”

“These problems about medical missions always come up year after year,” chides Maristela’s husband and CMM official Joe, an engineer. “It is quite difficult to even reach a consensus with other groups.”

The Maristelas said CMM is trying to egg on medical mission groups which are members of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations (Naffaa) to meet and dissect further the conduct of medical missions.

“We have to keep on trying to meet with other groups,” Offie Maristela said.

For his part, Alvear is calling on medical mission groups abroad and nonprofit advocates for the health sector to convene  and hold a medical mission summit within the year.

That way,  said the former awardee of the American College of Surgeons, “we may be able to determine solutions on how medical missions can be improved.”

“Medical missions should not just be palliative efforts,” Alvear said. “Let us open the debate then on this issue. Time is of the essence--and there will come a time the help from Filipinos abroad will cease.” --Jeremaiah M. Opiniano

Medical mission groups may provide comments to Dr. Domingo Alvear at alvear15@comcast.net.