What the health?!

Health is wealth.

Indeed it is. Health has now become a massive source of wealth for the drug manufacturers, health institutions owners and those propagandists who suck up all the money of a poor little consumer who surrenders and secures his life and well-being to them.

From a usual Filipino setting: a family of five – three children, a wife who does all the household chores and a husband who works 8 hours daily earning a minimum wage, health is the most important tool to perform everyday tasks at home, in school, or in the workplace.

Thus, here arise the different TV ads, posters, tangible and intangible classifieds that tout drugs, equipments, and health providers that are said to supply the complete nutrients needed for us to achieve our tasks. Even my parents are a fan of those, I admit. These advertisements grow in our ways of thinking. Everything in its ads invites us to consume – the technique, the celebrity used to advertise (who, most of the time does not actually consume the product, but used by the company only for his or her face value), the colors, and the cost. From being only a supplementary means to our daily diet and exercise, this has now become an imposed “necessity” for our well-being. The historically known ‘want’ or luxury of fitness is now being imposed on us as a ‘need’, regardless of the monetary value it can incur.

Now, the father or the mother does not only work hard for the family to have food in the table but also for the bottles of tablets and capsules that cost at least P2,000 a bottle, or at least P20 per capsule. But there’s more! You might also need another capsule depending on the body part you want to fix or develop. The breadwinner now has to perform maximum productivity in his or her job (or even search for more jobs) in order to have more money to buy these drugs; but in turn, also uses these to carry out maximum productivity at work! In the end, who’s the winner? Who loses and who gains?

So the situation now turns as – from the health that people need to sustain and develop because it is the only wealth one can have, economically poor or rich, or be healthy in order to perform our jobs that can provide us enough money for our daily living; it now becomes as the health that people need to work for to be able to have enough money to buy vitamins and minerals-providers and as a result gives a massive profit (wealth) for the advertisers, drug manufacturers, and private health providers.

What happened to our healthy living before? We won’t need those imposed ways for us to become physically fit. We need to get back to the basics – our diet, our exercise, our daily routine. Appreciate the beauty of nature through exercise and by the food we eat.

Let us not be fooled by these advertisers, drug manufacturers and health providers who just eat up a portion of our income; for their selfish profits and for the workers to perform their duties well and be alienated in more multitudes in the private companies.

In the end, we should also ask ourselves: Up to what degree has this privatization of health has already brought us? Who can and cannot afford this type of scheme? What will happen to the people who cannot afford the adequate drug they need?

The meaning of the words “Health is wealth” is on the brink of death. While rich people experience their “healthy living” while gaining something, the poor, who constitutes the larger portion in this country experiences, may I say, HELL-thy living.