Saturday, February 27, 2010

DOH on a rampage


OF LATE, we got bungled up with the news that the secretary of government’s Department of Health is again on a rampage. This time she is going to distribute pills. Philippine Star quoted her as saying: “I think it’s the right thing to do in order to promote the health of the people and that is a mandate the DOH has. We are just doing what we are supposed to do.”

Of course, the DOH is doing what its secretary is supposed to do which, of course, include distributing loads of condoms during the last Valentine’s Day at bus terminals. But doing this is the height of irresponsibility of the health department.

Cabral claims that distributing condoms will solve the spread of HIV-AIDS. This is belied by the experience of other countries, like Thailand which got an exponential surge of incidence of the virus when the government started distributing condoms. Besides well-meaning scientists are saying that the condom rubber is penetrable by the virus and therefore not failsafe to AIDS.
The AIDS curse is deeper than the shallow condom. The real problem is right in the head. Even if the department handcuffs a promiscuous person, AIDS will still go through. For such a person that cannot live responsibly his sexuality or confine himself to marital fidelity, no amount of condom can prevent him from spreading indiscriminately the dreaded disease.
In the end what the health department is doing is fire up the spread of the virus, because it is actually promoting promiscuity.

“Perhaps, just perhaps, the otherwise illustrious public official, does not know that condoms are not only supposedly anti-aids and contra-population items—but also, and specially so, gadget that are pro-promiscuity, pro-infidelity, pro-immorality, pro-irresponsibility and other unsound value system,” wrote Archbishop Oscar Cruz in his blog.

And today Secretary Cabral is distributing pills. But what has pills got to do with the spread of HIV? If Cabral sees a link between condom and pills, then it is not about HIV—it’s about something else! Yes, Virginia, Cabral has a taller order than just HIV or health. If she is really serious about helping the health problems of Filipinos, then she should start from the real ones. Not from an agenda that is obviously related to population deceleration.

1 comment:

Absolute Philippines said...

A couple of points; first if you do any research you will see that condoms do stop the AIDs virus. Comments that they do not were clearly misinformation put forward by people with an agenda (perhaps similar to your own?). Second, you speak as though the "deceleration of population growth" is a bad thing? Given the poverty of so many in our country, shouldn't the ability to plan the size of one's family such that you can feed them and educate them be supported by any reasonable man?