Docs are like soldiers being deployed to war zones

“Life is inherently risky. There is only one big risk you should avoid at all costs, and that is the risk of doing nothing.”

—Denis Waitley

By Alex P. Vidal

WHEN the 44 members of the Special Action Force (SAF) were deployed in Mamasapano, Maguindanao together with other crack SAF soldiers to help arrest a high-ranking terrorist on January 25, 2015, they didn’t realize they would be massacred by the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Soldiers sent to dangerous combat missions obey first before they complain.

Sometimes they don’t complain, at all; or they have no more time to complain. 

They are not supposed to complain, in the first place, since when they accepted the job as combatants they knew one of their legs was already in the cemetery.

The 39 Western Visayas rural doctors who were earlier ordered deployed in Cebu, the country’s new coronavirus disease epicenter, probably felt they were like SAF soldiers being given a dangerous assignment in Mindanao.

To add suspense, news of their deployment to Cebu spread in the media at the time when reports came out that eight doctors from the St. Paul’s Hospital have been tested positive of COVID-19. 

“Why us?” they must have probably wondered. 

-o0o-

As of this writing, however, their deployment, which was supposed to commence on June 29, has been held in abeyance by Department of Health-Center for Health Development (DoH-CHD) Regional Director Marlyn Convocar “until issues and concerns are settled with all concerned physicians and other stakeholders.”

Before Convocar’s intercession, the organization where the 39 doctors belong, had issued a statement strongly condemning the DoH’s directive from the central office, lamenting that “the involved doctors have not been suitably informed through writing.”

The deployment order, reportedly signed by DoH Undersecretary Abdulah Dumama Jr., “did not have a proper consultation with the stakeholders prior to the directive and no detailed guidelines and protocols to protect the doctors in this temporary reassignment,” protested the group referring to the 39 Rural Health Physicians (RHP).

The 39 doctors probably thought they would be risking their lives if they weren’t ready for the tough assignment in Cebu.

DoH Secretary Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the National Task Force-COVID 19, has described the coronavirus cases and death rate in Cebu as “very much alarming.”

Galvez revealed that in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, 86 of those who died did so in less than 48 hours since being brought to the hospital.

-o0o-

BASED on my personal experience, residents of New York City will never go hungry in the time of COVID-19 pandemic. 

Through GetFood NYC, the City has been distributing over a million meals each day to ensure no New Yorker will go hungry because of the COVID-19 crisis.

Where can New Yorkers access free meals?

All New Yorkers can pick up meals at more than 500 NYC schools.

Meal pickup is from 7:30 am to 1:30 pm Monday through Friday. All adults and children can pick up multiple meals at one time, and all New Yorkers are eligible (no registration or ID required).

Vegetarian and halal options are available at all sites; kosher options are available at select sites. New Yorkers are asked to text FOOD or COMIDA to 877-877 to find the closest location, or to go to nyc.gov/getfood​ to view an interactive map of all schools and open pantries.

Emergency home delivery is available for those who need it. If we cannot go out to get food, no one can bring us food, and we are not able to use private delivery options, New York City will deliver emergency meals to us. 

We can visit ​nyc.gov/getfood​ or, if we don't have internet access or an email address, we may call 311 and say “Get Food” to sign up. Deliveries can be one-time (9 meals) or recurring (9 meals twice per week) for up to four weeks.

Deliveries may include pantry items, shelf stable meals, or fresh meals. New Yorkers can request Kosher or Halal​ ​food. Specific delivery items vary based on availability; efforts are underway to increase food options in the future.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)