Docs with a mission

THERE are many stories of doctors heading abroad to find greener pastures. Some of these doctors, however, are still drawn back to the country even after finding better paying jobs abroad.

Dr. Vincent Vicente is one of them. Vicente currently works at the Community Health and Development Cooperative Hospital in Davao City, doing minor surgeries and assisting his father in major surgeries. He also has work in the Bureau of Corrections as a medical officer.

Aside from Dr. Vicente, another doctor who has come home from overseas is Dr. Bong Ybiernas. Ybiernas currently works at Central Lab as an Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) Doctor. Aside from his ENT capabilities, Dr. Ybiernas also practices head and neck surgery, and is also certified by the American Academy of Aesthetic Medicine to practice aesthetic medicine. Ybiernas is also a member of the Philippine College of Occupational Medicine, also doing occupational medicine such as hearing conservation programs for factory workers.

Both Dr. Vicente and Dr. Ybiernas have come back to Davao after spending years working in the USA in search of greener pastures.

Taking opportunities

Vicente said that he left in 2002, around the same time that a lot of doctors were going out of the country.

"I was a chief resident for the department of surgery at San Pedro Hospital when I had a work offer sa Chicago as a quality assurance supervisor for nurses and PT. So when I got the offer, they gave me a working visa and I went there," he said.

Dr. Vicente shared that there's a big difference between working here and in the United States, primarily in the pay. "I started at $15 per hour then when I went to Jacksonville in Florida it went up to $25 per hour. You have more time there. Unlike here, you get called several times, parating kang may schedules," he shared.

Ybiernas, for his part, took the opportunity to go the United States by taking up a degree in nursing while he was here. He said, "I went to the US because I took up nursing. I was one of those doctors back in early 2000, there were lots of doctors in the Philippines who got into nursing because that's the easiest way to get into the US. I went to Florida, I became a nurse there, I worked there for six years in my capacity as a nurse. But eventually I moved to the University of Florida as a research coordinator, at a facility for new drug development."

Despite having stable jobs in the United States, Ybiernas and Vicente came back to the Philippines, and for very similar reasons.

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Docs with a mission