On Thursday last week, the kickoff ceremonies for the nationwide blood pressure (BP) screening campaign was held at the Manila City Hall, with no less than Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada and Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial giving the marching orders for the coalition of doctors, nurses, health workers and advocates who have all volunteered to check the BPs of at least one million Filipinos, age 18 years and older, to identify those who have high BP but don’t even realize it.
To set the example, Mayor Erap had his BP checked by Secretary Ubial after both of them gave their messages. So, he’s No. 1 on the list of the one million individuals who are going to be screened this month.
After Erap, it was Sec. Ubial’s turn to have her BP checked. They set a good example for this BP awareness campaign.
It’s heartening to note that enhancing healthcare delivery is one of Mayor Erap’s priorities in the city of Manila. He and the city council allocate a hefty sum in the city budget annually to provide free checkups and medicines, particularly for the senior citizens of the city.
Mayor Erap jokingly related that when he started his term as mayor, his BP shot up because he realized the city was neck-deep in debt. But as the city’s financial condition improved, his stress level went down and his BP also improved.
Big surprise
Out of the one million targeted for screening in this BP awareness campaign, around 230,000 will likely be hypertensive. For many, it might come as a big surprise that they have elevated BP. These individuals will be endorsed to the local government health facilities so they can be regularly monitored.
Ubial said the Department of Health (DOH) now has a nationwide registry in which more than 500,000 hypertensive individuals had been identified and they’re given free medicines to control their BP. But, she added that there were around 12 million hypertensive Filipinos, and at least six million of them were not even aware they were hypertensive.
She described some of them as unsuspecting “walking time bombs.” These are the so-called high-risk individuals who have other risk factors like smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol levels and previous history of heart attack or stroke.
These high-risk hypertensive individuals have one out of five chances of developing another heart attack, stroke or even dying from a hypertension-related complication in the next five years. This is the big challenge doctors face—to identify these “walking time bombs,” so hopefully, they could be saved from a potentially fatal outcome in several years.
Many of these people think they’re in the pink of health because they don’t feel any symptom. They can still engage in their favorite sport without warning symptoms like chest pains, dizziness or easy fatigability and shortness of breath.
But one should not rely on symptoms, Assistant Health Secretary Eric Tayag cautioned.
Most hypertensive individuals have no symptoms. The only way to find out if one is hypertensive or not is to have one’s BP checked.
If you have not had your BP checked in the past year and you don’t know if it’s high or not, it’s a good decision to go to one of the BP screening sites.
Most of the DOH health facilities nationwide serve as screening sites. Many private hospitals are also participating. If you see a red May Measurement Month (MMM) logo, then that means you can have a free BP checkup. MMM is initiated by the International Society of Hypertension and the World Hypertension League.
Full force
The Philippine Heart Association (PHA), Philippine Society of Hypertension (PSH), and Philippine College of Physicians are part of the health alliance volunteering for this nationwide campaign. The presidents and officers of PHA and PSH came in full force during the kickoff ceremonies to show support for the campaign.
All the members of these associations are enjoined to organize screening sites in their respective hospitals, or accommodate in their clinics for free all those who want to simply have their BP checked.
Generika Drugstore also volunteered their more than 700 branches nationwide as screening sites. They have been engaging in health counseling and other community service activities in the past, so they were tapped also for this campaign.
Unfortunately, our local Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a directive last week prohibiting all drugstore outlets from engaging in community service programs. We’re calling on FDA Director General Nela Charade G. Puno to allow drugstore outlets who render legitimate community service out of goodwill to continue such activities.
It has been well-established in various studies abroad that pharmacists can also assist in health counseling and encouraging health-promoting activities. They help fill in some of the healthcare gaps, particularly in underdeveloped and developing countries. Solving problems like hypertension requires a multisectoral collaboration, and the pharmacists and drugstore outlets can be part of it.
Now, back to Mayor Erap’s and Secretary Ubial’s BP. The scenario was not really ideal to measure the BP. With all the spotlight focused on them while their BP was being taken and all the cameras clicking, the reading was really expected to be artificially high. Secretary Ubial advised Mayor Erap just to have his BP rechecked again under more ideal conditions, when he’s rested and relaxed.
As for Sec. Ubial, she has her BP checked regularly and it’s always normal. And she’s not even taking pills for her BP—just the good old healthy lifestyle, she said.