Spirituality and Medicine

I was invited to speak in the Haligi Congress in Cebu organized by the Philippine Society of Public Health Physicians and AMSA - Cebu. It was my second time to talk about the intersection of Spirituality and Medicine among physicians. But this was more for public health practitioners and the medical students. 

My topic was entitled "Soulful Balance: Embracing Spritual and Mental Wellness Among People in Healthcare."

My talk was focused in highlighting the role of spirituality in addressing the problem of health human resource scarcity in our country. I opened my talk with a review of the six building blocks of health according to WHO and highlighting the importance of the Human Resource for Health block. I then surveyed the current problems leading to the exodus of HRH and the maldistribution of the remaining HRH in the country. Then I introduced the concept of spirituality and related it to the purpose and reason why a person would seek to become a healthcare provider much more a public health practitioner in the countryside. I discussed extensively using examples from my experiences and highlighting published researches that supports my arguments. 

I concluded my talk by emphasizing the importance of including spirituality early in medical school to guide students in the path that they would choose to take.