I am writing about this subject for the awareness of some of our readers here. Not sure if everyone knows that there are not so many burn centers here in the Philippines. As far as I know only one burn center in Mindanao. Only here in Davao City (Davao Medical Center or DMC).
Why do I know that there is just one in Mindanao? A few years ago, when my nephew got an accident in school in General Santos City. He fell in the hole with a fire burning. He almost lost his feet. Luckily they were saved. He was brought here to Davao and was at the Davao Medical Center for almost 2 months if I remember. Whenever I visited him there, I saw lots of people in the hallway sleeping. I asked my brother and one of my nephews why too many people there. They told me that a lot of those people there where from other places here in Mindanao. One of the nurses confirmed that too. I saw some patients from Agusan, some area near Cagayan De Oro, near Zamboanga, near Isulan and many more. Can you imagine being the patient and you will wait for a long time to be transported to Davao City? That’s a long journey.
As I’m typing this, my left hand, some of my fingers have blisters. I just got an accident a few days ago. I accidentally burned by a boiling water. 4 of my fingers have pretty good size blisters. It’s really painful. Luckily we almost always have burn ointment/cream here in the house. I did apply right away. Then I also put some aloe vera in it. We have plants of aloe vera here in our yard. Thank God for that. Bob was asking me if I want to go to the hospital, I said no. It’s not really that bad.
To be honest I’m not going to complain. My injuries are not even a tenth of my nephew and my helper’s injuries. Our helper when she was about 6 years old she got burned by a lugaw (rice porridge). The whole pan tipped over part of her chest and tummy. She showed me her scars and its really bad. She told me that she really suffered for long hours because they lived in the mountain and they’re far from a hospital. Luckily the hospital in their area managed to take care of her. Just hearing from her story, she’s lucky that she survived that ordeal. Watching my nephew suffer it’s really hard on our family. Seeing him in pain really was hard to see. Hearing him cry finding out that he lost some of his toes was heartbreaking.
I’m hoping that none of us will ever need the facility in the future. But I guess for prevention. For a start try to plant lots of aloe vera plant in your yard. It’s really soothing and helpful, I know that for sure. Have cream or ointment in your house always. The most important of all, know where the location of the burn facility in your area.
Stay safe and God bless!
I hope for a speedy recovery for you, Mrs Martin.
Thank you so much Mike.
Have a great day!
Blessings and prayers sent your way. Amen!
Hi William. Thanks and highly appreciated.
Have a pleasant day and God bless!
Thanks for the burn information. It happened that my wife burned herself and her cousin, a surgeon on the island of Bohol, told her about a cream that she needed to apply daily. It was expensive but it was needed.
Rusty
Hi Rusty – You’re welcome. I think we might have the same cream, that why I knew co’z it was prescribed before to my niece when she got burned. Yep, it’s really a good cream, and yeah it’s a bit expensive but it’s worth it.
Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful day!
Treat a burn with cold water, colder the better, it cools the fat under the skin preventing further damage.
Hi jon – Yep, I read that too on the net. Thank you though for the warning.
It’s good to see you here. Keep reading.
Have a pleasant day!
Thank you information is always important.
That’s for sure Luke.
Thank you for stopping by. Always good to see you here.
Have nice day!
Ooooh, that looks like a bad burn to me Feyma. Best wishes on a full recovery.
When you have second degree burns, morphine barely dulls the pain . I found that out . I was one mile from a top rated burn unit. I can not imagine driving hours to get the treatment. I believe my heart would have exploded. The first 48 hours were terrible. With loads of painkillers.
The other thing about that, Joel Dwire, is that pain drugs are very limited in the Philippines. Strong pain medication like morphine is not available in the Philippines.
Morphine is allowed on the island of Bohol.
Rusty
Wow..Nice awakening article … never thought about this…Poor people who suffer this type of problem…yeah a lot of the “Kitchens” here can cause a lot of burn problems I would think ….Glad your doing ok….
Toothpaste provides instant relief for minor burns as well. Cant imagine anything hurting worse than a bad burn and no strong meds to control the pain. Hurts thinking about it.
Bob Martin The other thing about that, Joel Dwire, is that pain drugs are very limited in the Philippines. Strong pain medication like morphine is not available in the Philippines. not true, i had morphine in manila, they gave me 2cc i asked them to give 5cc, they had to check as i was caucasian they said ok your body bigger to take it lol, but i deffo had morphine
Sorry to hear of all that Feyma.
All the best for as speedy as possible recovery for both you and your nephew.
Sorry to hear you got burned. I think getting burned is the worst thing to happen. Get well soon Feyma!
Mrs Feyma,
Hope your fingers are doing better. Those blisters look nasty and I’m sure they don’t feel any better. Look several commenters above, burns can be the most painful of injuries.
Hi Feyma,
From the pic that looks very painful. I hope the pain will become less as the days pass since the burn. Can you name the expensive ointment you mentioned ? It might be something I should look for on my next visit.
Feel better and get well soon.