Cobacha, Angelo Jude C.

BMLS 1-C
Mulanay sa Pusod ng Paraiso
In a small town in the province of Quezon called Mulanay, a newly-pledged doctor
named Ria Espinosa has decided to become a “volunteer to the barrios” to start her career.
With high hopes of being able to help the people in Mulanay, Dr. Ria and her assistant,
Norma, have encountered several problems in the community – and one of these problems
is on health and sanitation.
The movie was centered in barangay Patabog, one of the barangays in Mulanay,
where Dr. Ria and Norma was staying. When she arrived in the barangay, the problem in
sanitation was already evident – everyone was defecating and urinating anywhere; the pigs
and chickens were all-over the place with no permanent pens – the threat for dangerous
diseases was present. The kind of culture the people possess have reflected their state of
living – less education, less support from the government, and a very financially challenged
community. And therefore leading to problems in health which would later lead to death
of the many.
On the contrary, at the start of Dr. Ria’s journey as a volunteer doctor, the
municipality was glorified for being able to receive a doctor for their barrios, but despite
the celebration, the Local Government Unit (LGU) was very inconsistent with their support
to Dr. Ria. Due to this, less support from the government was received by the people in
Patabog especially in terms of providing projects for the development of public health.
Because of the isolation of the barrio, the people in Patabog rely more on faith healers
rather than in real doctors.
In my viewpoint, the notion “health is wealth” is a head-turner. In the Philippines,
if you do not have wealth, it is hard for you to maintain your health. This kind of definition
I gave to the notion clearly reflects the kind of situation the people have in the movie
Mulanay sa Pusod ng Paraiso wherein poverty, lack of education, and the lack of support
– which I used as the basis for wealth – became the root cause of poor health of the people.
However, it is not the end for those who suffer from poor health – a society’s problem,
such as in health, cannot be solved by one person, alone; thus, a call for unity, cooperation
and responsibility must be made in order to achieve better health for all.
A thin line between the situation in Mulanay and in today’s society is evident.
Politicians are still doing what they do best – giving false promises. Having only one doctor
is not enough to render all health services and the ratio of 1 doctor for every 33,000 persons
is a ridiculous number. Despite the fact that there are martyr doctors who offer their careers
to the people just to give better health services, without cooperation and support from the
government and the people, they will never achieve their goals.
However, I am amazed of the commitment of Dr. Ria to the people and it made me
realize that the best salary you could get as a medical professional is being able to save the
lives of the people. And for public health to be delivered successfully to the people,
cooperation and support from the government are not the only factors needed, but also the
true commitment of the doctors, themselves, to serve and protect the health of the people.