HOW ABOUT A DIALYSIS BUS?

HOW ABOUT A DIALYSIS BUS?

Dear Mr. President: Going to private dialysis centers is not a problem for rich people because in most cases, they would probably have their own private vehicles. Either that, or the rich people could afford to take a taxi or use one of those ride hailing apps that could cost an arm or a leg. In other words, the poor people are forced to take public transportation, and depending on where they are coming from, they may have to take several rides before they could arrive at their chosen dialysis clinics.

Since it is a well-known fact that many of these poor dialysis patients are already weak and old, and it is really a struggle for them to take the bus or take the jeepney, why don’t we think of other ways to make commuting easier for them? As I recall, when I was a director at the PCSO, our board approved many requests for the so-called “patient transport vehicles” or PTVs for short. Unlike ambulances, PTVs are only for non-emergency transport of patients, but they are often used as ambulances if there is nothing else available.

Most of our public utility buses are not equipped to accommodate senior citizens and PWDs. In the meantime  that we could not require those features, we should deploy as many PTVs as possible, hopefully at least one per barangay. Better still, we should issue national standards so that the required features will always be present, regardless of who procures them. For example, these could be equipped with handlebars and wheelchair ramps.

Putting dialysis machines inside dedicated buses is not a new idea, because other countries are already doing it. As a matter of fact, I will not be surprised if a private company or an LGU is already doing it in the Philippines. I do not think that it requires rocket science to come up with our own local designs. Even if it does, I am sure that our local engineers will rise to the challenge. I think that the biggest design challenges will be the power supply and the water supply for the bus, but the engineers could handle that too.

“If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain”. That is the original expression, but in this case, the mountain could go to Mohammed if we can put dialysis machines into dedicated buses. I can imagine how difficult it is for patients in the cities to go to their dialysis centers, riding only in jeepneys and buses. However, I could also imagine that it would even be more difficult to do that in the rural areas, where the patients may have to cross seas or traverse mountains just to go to the dialysis centers.

Mr. President, I think that this project, if you will support it, will need the participation of several National Government Agencies (NGAs) such as the DOTr, the LTFRB, the LTO, the DOST, the PHILMECH and of course the DOH. For funding purposes, perhaps PCSO, PAGCOR, DILG and DBM could be tapped. By the way Sir, there is an existing foundation that is already doing this kind of an approach. “Hospital on Wheels”, founded by Dr. Jim Sanchez has been going to remote areas, mostly in poor communities, to perform surgical, medical, dental and optical services for free. Perhaps you could just coordinate with Dr. Sanchez to implement this project? IKE SENERES/10-06-2024

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES?

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES? When we talk about the crime rate in the Philippines, we often assume that the figures we see are accurate reflections of reality. But have we ever paused to ask—how exactly is the crime rate computed? Where does this data come from, and how reliable is it? The computation of the crime rate in the Philippines is officially handled by the Philippine National Police (PNP). The formula itself is straightforward: Crime Rate = (Total Reported Crimes / Total Population) x 100,000 This simple equation gives us the number of crimes per 100,000 people, allowing for fair comparison across regions and time periods. However, the reality behind these numbers is more complex than it appears. Data from the Ground The foundation of our national crime rate is empirical data collected at the grassroots level—from individual police stations scattered across the country. Every reported crime is logged in local police blotters, forming the buil...
Read more

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS Dear Mr. President: May I ask who is going to be the arbiter or referee whenever there are overlaps in functions between two or more government agencies? I imagine that there would be no problem if these agencies would just cooperate and collaborate with each other, but what if they are unable to settle their differences and they would just end up throwing blame at each other or finger pointing at each other? Allow me to cite some examples. Who is supposed to take the lead in waste to energy projects? Is it supposed to be the DENR that is supposed to handle waste? Or is it supposed to be the DOE that is supposed to handle energy generation? Or is it supposed to be the DILG since it is the one that could direct or influence the waste to energy projects of LGUs? Who is supposed to take the lead in producing and promoting the use of biofuels? Is it supposed to be the DA, since the production of biofuels is supposed to be all about planting biofuel ...
Read more

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES As it is supposed to be, anyone in the Philippines should be able to dial 911, and a telephone operator should be able to dispatch fire, rescue, ambulance and police (FRAP) units as soon as possible, based on acceptable response times. I invented the FRAP acronym for easy recall, and I hope it sticks, if there is no other alternative. Unfortunately, due to a mixture of technical and political reasons, the Philippines has not adopted 911 as a national number, because some LGUs would rather use their own three-digit numbers such as 117 and 168. I actually proposed a technical solution to that problem, but it was not adopted either. For whatever it is worth, my solution is to install a call forwarding system that could route all calls to a central operator, regardless of what number is dialed. It is very sad for me to know that up to now, even if our country is already over one hundred years old, there are still many LGUs that do not have fire trucks. it ...
Read more