Pinoy doc hopes to change healthcare for the poor with University of London degree
On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, Dr. Adrian Paul Rabe works at the Kabalikat Community Clinic to provide free medical check-ups and medicine to the poor residents of BASECO Compound, one of the most impoverished areas in Manila.
Since the clinic's establishment in February this year, Rabe and other volunteer doctors had tended to over 600 patients, an experience that made him realize that the country's healthcare system needs “big changes.”
“They (residents) keep on coming back with the same problems over and over again, which means that the efforts of doctors individually [are] not going to be enough,” he told GMA News Online on Wednesday. “This requires structural changes—big changes—in government, and these are policy changes.”
“We need very good health policy... we need people who are trained in terms of health-policy making that's evidence-based and I decided that, maybe, we need someone who's trained abroad,” he added.
With this in mind, Rabe, son of a former OFW, applied and was accepted for a one-year Master of Science (MSc) in Health Policy Planning and Financing at the University of London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Aware of the university's tuition and the high cost of living in London, Rabe applied for scholarships to fund his education, but resorted to crowdfunding on Indiegogo to meet the required £32,600.
“[London], I think, has the highest, if not the second-highest cost of living in the world, so it's really difficult especially for people who pass the school but cannot afford the tuition or living expenses,” he said.
Big financial help from the family is also out of the question, Rabe said, despite his father being an electronics and communications engineer who previously worked in Kuwait.
“We initially lived in Kuwait because my father worked as an OFW there. We had to return in 1990 due to the Gulf War. Most our possessions were gone during that time. We grew up in an aunt's house in Pangasinan. We were poor but we had enough,” he said.
Eventually, Rabe's father was able to return to Kuwait.
“Our family had a lot of progress since then,” he said. “Through their hard work, they were able to put all of us through college.”
Harvey Keh, lead convenor of the Kaya Natin! movement and a sponsor of the clinic, believes that Rabe, who passed the medical licensure exams in 2007 at the young age of 22, is uniquely qualified to study in the University of London due to his need to serve indigents.
“He is suited for the MsC because he is a very good doctor whose heart is really into serving the less privileged and upgrading the level of public health in our communities,” he told GMA News Online through a text message.
Changing the country's healthcare system is difficult to grasp for most, but Rabe is willing to go the distance to fulfill his calling.
“There's a saying in public health now that clinicians treat hundreds of patients in their lifetime, but public health practitioners treat populations... My impact as an individual doctor may not be enough. I have to help the rest of the population through help policy,” he said. —KBK, GMA News
Since the clinic's establishment in February this year, Rabe and other volunteer doctors had tended to over 600 patients, an experience that made him realize that the country's healthcare system needs “big changes.”
“They (residents) keep on coming back with the same problems over and over again, which means that the efforts of doctors individually [are] not going to be enough,” he told GMA News Online on Wednesday. “This requires structural changes—big changes—in government, and these are policy changes.”
“We need very good health policy... we need people who are trained in terms of health-policy making that's evidence-based and I decided that, maybe, we need someone who's trained abroad,” he added.
Dr. Adrian Paul Rabe attending to some patients.
Aware of the university's tuition and the high cost of living in London, Rabe applied for scholarships to fund his education, but resorted to crowdfunding on Indiegogo to meet the required £32,600.
“[London], I think, has the highest, if not the second-highest cost of living in the world, so it's really difficult especially for people who pass the school but cannot afford the tuition or living expenses,” he said.
Big financial help from the family is also out of the question, Rabe said, despite his father being an electronics and communications engineer who previously worked in Kuwait.
“We initially lived in Kuwait because my father worked as an OFW there. We had to return in 1990 due to the Gulf War. Most our possessions were gone during that time. We grew up in an aunt's house in Pangasinan. We were poor but we had enough,” he said.
Eventually, Rabe's father was able to return to Kuwait.
“Our family had a lot of progress since then,” he said. “Through their hard work, they were able to put all of us through college.”
Harvey Keh, lead convenor of the Kaya Natin! movement and a sponsor of the clinic, believes that Rabe, who passed the medical licensure exams in 2007 at the young age of 22, is uniquely qualified to study in the University of London due to his need to serve indigents.
“He is suited for the MsC because he is a very good doctor whose heart is really into serving the less privileged and upgrading the level of public health in our communities,” he told GMA News Online through a text message.
Changing the country's healthcare system is difficult to grasp for most, but Rabe is willing to go the distance to fulfill his calling.
“There's a saying in public health now that clinicians treat hundreds of patients in their lifetime, but public health practitioners treat populations... My impact as an individual doctor may not be enough. I have to help the rest of the population through help policy,” he said. —KBK, GMA News
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