As I was lurking online last night, after deciding that staring aimlessly at my Anatomy book is not studying, I came across numerous posts regarding the BIR's directive that professionals should post in their offices the rates that they charge their clients.
That, by far, has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. No, probably in my lifetime.
Speaking as a future physician, I really cannot hide my disgust for this directive because I felt that it belittles medicine as a profession. Ever since I went to med school and went on to internship, I experienced a lot of things that a lot of people do not see. These are the years of sacrifices and hardships that the physician and their families had to go through in order to care for the sick. Giving up a part of your life for the sake of others is not easy but we opted to do it to serve the people. And now the smart aleck BIR comes up with a a bright idea that equates the profession as a money-making scheme.
It's true that there is a so-called "business side of medicine". Hey, we also need to earn money to live but we don't do it all the time. I know of the noble deeds of my mentors and seniors who do not charge financially incapable patients. I don't need to expound on that but I'm sure you've heard of such stories already. A simple "thank you" is enough for them and it makes them feel like they've been paid a million dollars.
That makes the practice of medicine worth it and it cannot be equated to any amount of monetary value.
I do not approve of this directive because his move is plainly UNETHICAL and it DEVALUES THE NOBILITY of the profession. Let me check it out with the Philippine Medical Association's Code of Ethics so I can prove my point about this directive being unethical:
So you see, only the name, field of specialty, office hours or the office or residential address may be posted. I do not see a SERVICE PRICE LIST written in there and in the other parts of the Code as well. To drive my point home about physicians giving out their services for free and why some fees seem to be higher than that of the other cases, I give you:
Exhibit B: Article II Section 7
Funny how this is imposed at the same time that questionable allocation of revenues is the current national issue. So now I'm thinking about how would the taxes that I'm going to pay in the future be used?
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