RH Lecture in Quirino Memorial Medical Center

The 1st Institutional Conference in Quirino Memorial Medical Center (QMMC) last Jan 27, 2011 was well attended not only by the medical and nursing staff and students, but by the barangay captain (Dr. Maturan) and his barangay councilors. Based on their questions, comments and suggestions, the lecture on "Dissecting the Reproductive Health Bills: Medical, Public Health, and Bioethical Issues" made them think, and to be more knowledgeable and critical about health issues affecting our people, especially the women and children.

Especially for the lay people in attendance, it was their first time to hear about the mechanism of action and different side effects of the artificial means of contraception. They came to realize that the risks to their health outweigh any purported benefits from using combined oral contraceptive pills, IUDs and condoms. In this day and age of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM), I was able to present the latest scientific proof about the carcinogenicity of pills, from the World Health Organization, Monograph 91, of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), published in The Lancet Oncology August 2005.

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Most of them think that Natural Family Planning (NFP) deserves to be revisited, as the method of choice for fertility control. Only two doctors out of the several in attendance know how Billings Ovulation Method (BOM) work and how to teach it to couples. How then can our doctors and politicians proposing the RH Bill claim that NFP or BOM are ineffective in preventing pregnancy when the health care professionals themselves are ignorant about it? Obviously, they cannot do health education to their patients about it, if they never really learned it during their medical/nursing school days nor during their clinical rotations in the hospitals. Talk about lack of scientific evidence to the false claims of ineffectiveness of NFP or BOM among the Filipinos by the pro-RH camp. In the first place, make sure health care professionals are adequately trained about them. Then ensure that all women of reproductive age know about their sexual faculty, their body's normal physiology, and the usual signs of fertility. More importantly, teach them about the virtues of modesty and chastity, and respect for the sanctity of life, marriage and the family.

The audience became concerned when they realized the punitive measures proposed by RH Bill 96 to those who opt not to support or to oppose the bill, by virtue of religious convictions, personal choice, or beliefs. They think it goes against each person's right to freedom of conscience, as well as to freedom of speech should anyone speak out against the RH Bill, charging the anti-RH groups with giving "malicious misinformation." Now, who is misinforming, or who is being "malicious" about this, tell me?

I personally liked what I discovered from the Digital Journal about the identified poor in the US and which I shared with the audience: the high school drop-outs, single, having children without a spouse, and working only part-time or not working at all. The proposed real solution to poverty, according to the US National Center for Policy Analysis is: stay in school, get a job, get married, and don't have children out of wedlock. Quite logical, don't you think so? I'm glad we had local government officials attentively listening to the lecture and taking note of everything I was saying.

One of the barangay officials suggested having another conference, this time, to be given by a pro-RH advocate, for them to hear the other side. This suggestion is much welcome, as indeed all stakeholders need to really study and critique the issues affecting them, not only in the short-term, but in the long term as well.

Thank you very much to my friend and colleague Dra. Teresa Tricia Guison-Bautista, for spearheading this activity in QMMC. Mabuhay kayo!