EVEN IN terms of medications, there was quite a big difference in cost and quality here and in Benguet. In Manila, for each bout of upper respiratory tract infection — and there are many in a child who has primary complex — the doctor would prescribe one medicine for the clogged nose, one for the cough, and one for the infection. In contrast, doctors in Baguio/Benguet were more inclined to do things the natural way, which tends to be cheaper and actually safer. They were in fact quite appalled by her medical record and told me that she had been given "third-generation cephalosporins" that they felt was not necessary, since the use of conventional antibiotics had not been ruled out as effective. Also the third-gen stuff was far stronger, more expensive, and branded. I suspect more doctors in the big city are tempted by the perks and benefits they get from pharmaceutical companies. Or perhaps it's just a matter of perspective. But for sure, the Baguio/Benguet method was clearly more effective for a poor and developing community.

So it was back to the simpler stuff for my daughter and me: erythromycin (as our family is allergic to penicillin) for the infection, steam inhalation for the clogged nose. I was also taught how to do the "bronchial tap" or the tapping of the back to loosen phlegm trapped in the lungs. And of course the anti-TB meds.

On top of these, fees for laboratory work — such as urine tests or x-rays — were half the price of those I paid for at St. Luke's. And they were about a third cheaper at Benguet General Hospital. An x-ray, for example, was some P400 (in 1999) in St. Luke's; it cost about P200 in Sacred Heart Hospital in Baguio and around P160 in Benguet General Hospital. I'm not an expert in the medical field, but I didn't see much of a quality difference between the x-ray itself and the interpretations in all three places.

By the time I brought my daughter down again to Manila (where the jobs for writers are, alas, despite the higher cost of living) eight months later, she was healthy. She would stay healthy and, as bonus, seemed to have benefited from the extra care and early childhood teaching I would have only been able to do in more relaxed Benguet. When it was time for her to go to school, she was the first in her 3's class (three-year-olds) to be able to write her name. Her teacher also said she had a "huge stock knowledge of concepts" for her age. Today she is a lively, independent and smart eight-year-old who has not been sick with any major respiratory illness since her recuperation in Benguet.

In retrospect, it seems to me that Benguet province shares my story: in the 1970s and 80s, Benguet used to be among the country's poorer provinces. For many years until 1997, it had been among the country's 20 poorest provinces.

But nine years ago, Benguet was able to pull itself out of that rut. Today it stands proudly as the only province in the Cordillera Administrative Region that is not found among the country's 44 poorest provinces. Despite the fact that its economy today is hit hard by the freer importation of potatoes, beans and other Baguio vegetables from cheaper and better subsidized farms in China and elsewhere.

In 1999, it was even considered as the country's top 8th province in terms of quality of life. This was according to the group of economic activists at Action for Economic Reforms.

For me, this only shows that having the right kind of information and focusing on priorities can spell the difference between abject poverty and a simple but quality life.

The author believes that if health officials muster enough political will, this alone could improve the country's healthcare system by leaps and bounds.