August 12, 2025.
The Medical Action Group (MAG) stands firmly with healthcare workers and the communities they serve. We cannot remain silent while the health profession is degraded, cast as the villain in a soap opera and accused of bleeding the poor dry to grow rich. The truth is the opposite: it is a broken system that exploits both patients and healers alike.
Healthcare is not a charity to be begged for. It is a right guaranteed to all. Yet in our country today, that right is denied, not because our healers lack compassion, but because our system lacks justice.
The Reality We Face
Our doctors, nurses, and health workers give their time, skill, and heart, often at the expense of their own well-being. They work in overcrowded wards, shoulder impossible caseloads, and endure delayed or inadequate pay. Some even spend their own money so that no patient is turned away. This is not proof that the system works; it is proof that it survives only because of the selfless sacrifices of those keeping it alive.
The Real Problem
It is not health workers who bankrupt our healthcare. It is chronic underfunding, severe understaffing, and poor management. This is more than a governance failure, it is a betrayal of the people’s right to health.
Why This Matters to Every Filipino
When the system fails a patient, it also fails the healer. And when it fails the healer, the entire nation suffers. No one should be forced to choose between begging for treatment and waiting to die. No health worker should have to choose between feeding their own family and caring for others.
A Call to Action
If we truly value life, we cannot keep patching a broken system with the sacrifices of those who hold it together. The dignity of patients matters and so does the dignity of those who care for them.
If we want a healthier Philippines, we must fix the system, not break the people who sustain it. We must reclaim our rights—the right to land, decent work, housing, education, equal opportunities—because these shape our health and well-being. We must end political patronage by rejecting political dynasties, showbiz personalities, and business tycoons who serve themselves, not the nation.
It is time to change the system that breeds injustice.
Contact: Nemuel S. Fajutagana, MD
Email: mag.1982@magph.org