The Philippine Daily Inquirer's teaser article for the first Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival on Health (Malayo sa Bituka), published August 4, 2007.

http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view_article.php?article_id=80494

Docs to use film tilt to reach out to people

By Tessa Salazar
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines -- How “sick” is the health situation of the Philippines?

Here are just a few symptoms. The government’s budget for health is only two percent of the GNP (gross national product), a far cry from the WHO recommendation of at least five percent for a health care system to thrive. This translates to just P0.43 per Filipino per day.

The country produces 2,000 doctors a year, but 3,000 leave the country annually. Before 2001, around 6,800 students took the Medical Entrance Exam (National Medical Admission Test). But in 2005 alone, only 2,900 took the NMAT.

The doctor-patient ratio is now 1:26,000 (the ideal ratio is 1:6,000).

Eighty percent of doctors in community hospitals are taking up nursing subjects, and are planning to leave the country soon.

Some 200 hospitals have closed down while 800 hospitals are considered partially closed because of the lack of doctors.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, according to medical students and doctors of the Mu Sigma Phi Medical Fraternity of the UP College of Medicine (the first medical fraternity in Asia), the Department of Health, UP Film Institute and Health Futures.

Challenge

These figures, however, are enough for them to challenge amateur filmmakers to create a film with the theme “Malayo sa Bituka.”

UP College of Medicine’s Bryan Albert T. Lim, project proponent, says this challenge is embodied in the first Quisumbing-Escandor Film Festival for Health, and amateur filmmakers from all walks of life are encouraged to join.

With this film festival, Lim hopes society could shift its misconceptions about medicine and see it as a dynamic social factor.

The majority of the available films used in advocacies in the health sector are currently disease-centered. The films that doctors wish to generate for this festival are patient-centered, issues-based, and in the context of the many aspects of society.

The nationwide amateur film-making contest is open for documentaries, short narrative and experimental films. The health practitioners said the films should touch on the interactions of socio-economic, cultural and political-environmental factors with health and general well-being.

Visual stimulation

Why use a film festival to provoke Filipinos to think about their health? The organizers say that although the Philippines had a high literacy rate of 88.5 percent, Filipinos were more visually stimulated. Films, when used properly, wouldn’t require as much skill as reading, and the appreciation of film is universal.

Physician Mike Tee, former member of the fraternity, explains that the competition can gather video materials that could form a film library in the future. These video materials could then be used to educate in the grassroots level.

“The project is consistent with Mu Sigma’s tradition of brotherhood, leadership, scholarship and service,” he says. The fraternity is celebrating its 75th year.

Rock bands and musicians, according to Lim, are also being tapped to raise awareness and funds for various advocacies. Interested amateur filmmakers can e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or log on to www.qe-film-festival.com or call 524-8756.

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