00:00 They are among more than 200 freshmen med students this year.
00:04 No matter how modern the technology is,
00:08 the chairs at the table are still considered the best in gaining knowledge.
00:15 Just like Nina Jillian and Anton.
00:23 I appreciate labs more.
00:25 That's where I can visualize and see.
00:27 I appreciate it more. They complement each other.
00:32 It's a unique experience for Jillian
00:35 to face the silent mentors in the lab for the first time.
00:40 At first, I was shocked.
00:46 When a person's body is found, you think, "Oh, they were alive."
00:54 But as a medical student, you shouldn't just look at them as objects.
01:01 You should look at them as people.
01:03 Dr. Bundok admits that it's hard to talk about what medical students do outside the lab.
01:13 A large part of the Filipino culture is family and religion.
01:19 For some, the use of human bodies in medical studies is against the law.
01:25 On the other hand, it's important to study in the field of medicine.
01:31 For the medical freshmen, Haz and Nana,
01:38 they have no problem with studying in the actual human body.
01:44 It's important for them to broaden their knowledge of medicine.
01:49 It's a very simple disease.
01:54 But it's not curable because it's hard to access.
01:57 And no one goes to the province.
02:00 So I thought, "Why would I just complain about it every day when I can do something about it?"
02:06 I thought, "Maybe the best thing I can do is to become a doctor for my community."
02:13 Muslims believe that the dead should be buried immediately.
02:18 For us, you give the same respect you give to people who are alive.
02:26 So you bury the body as early as possible because they deserve that respect.
02:33 So yes, there is a conflict.
02:35 In my family, I don't know about the other Muslim families,
02:38 but they say that they still feel what the dead feels even though they're dead.
02:45 So in our case, in this cadaver dissection, of course, we're not as sure about it.
02:53 It's a bit itchy.
02:54 Yes, it's a bit itchy. We still feel a bit itchy about it.
02:57 But of course, there are exceptions.
02:59 And the exceptions here are, first, if it's for the sake of learning,
03:03 and second, if it's for the sake of autopsy, investigations.
03:08 Dr. Bundok also admitted that it's not easy for our culture to accept the use of the body in anatomy subjects.
03:17 All people have a strong tendency to be related to the dead.
03:23 Right?
03:24 That's the problem in the whole world, our taboos.
03:29 But what's surprising is that
03:31 in the whole world, regardless of the culture,
03:35 regardless of the religion, regardless of the belief,
03:38 they know that they should have a doctor.
03:42 They know that their doctor, to be a good doctor,
03:46 they should study anatomy.
03:48 As long as everything is ethical,
03:50 as long as the body that we put on our table for the student to study
03:54 should be treated according to the law of the government,
03:59 there should be a medical school.
04:01 The professor added that they don't just look at the bodies from a scientific perspective.
04:10 Every beginning of the semester,
04:12 they hold a mass to examine the bodies.
04:18 It's a very solemn ceremony,
04:20 that everyone should be present, even the professors present.
04:23 These people should be respected.
04:27 They should be your patients,
04:30 they should be your teachers,
04:32 and they should be given respect.
04:34 No matter how famous the adhikain is,
04:39 it's still not easy to convince many of us
04:43 about the voluntary donation of the bodies of the deceased relatives.
04:50 And this is the problem of the UPCM.
04:53 The bodies are not enough for the size of the class.
04:57 According to Dr. Bundok,
05:02 the UPCM has a memorandum of agreement
05:05 with a government institution
05:07 to donate the unclaimed bodies to them.
05:10 In a month, how many corpses are coming to us?
05:14 Before the pandemic,
05:16 our ratio of corpses to silent mentor was 6 to 1.
05:20 It was still ideal.
05:23 Almost in all developed countries,
05:25 6 to 1, 4 to 1.
05:27 Unfortunately, after the pandemic,
05:30 it was surprising.
05:31 Now, our ratio is 20 to 1.
05:35 So we have to break our class into two sections,
05:39 to make it 10 to 1.
05:41 20 to 1 is just too much, too many.
05:43 No one will learn. You're just looking at the back of their bodies.
05:48 The closest ones can dissect.
05:50 Before, they were 6 to 1.
05:52 They can see the body well,
05:56 they can examine it well, they can dissect it well.
05:59 Yes. And you feel, Doc, that it really affects the quality of the graduates?
06:03 Definitely.
06:05 Our ratio of 6 to 1 should be reversed.
06:10 Which I'm afraid is going to take some time.
06:12 If he signs a contract, what will he do?
06:15 There are more medical schools in the Philippines now,
06:19 so many are also fighting for limited supply of beds.
06:24 And after the Doctor for the Country Act became law,
06:28 which provides medical scholarships in exchange for services to the country,
06:33 more students need a silent mentor.
06:39 If you're a doctor, with the rapid technology that's coming,
06:44 there are so many things that a doctor should learn.
06:48 So even if you're a specialist,
06:50 the instruments and tools are changing
06:52 to improve the health of the Filipino population.
06:55 And we should learn how to use them.
06:58 To learn how to use them safely,
07:01 we have to practice.
07:03 It sounds ugly, but we have to practice on cadavers.
07:07 I know that in our country, the word "practice" is used.
07:11 But what will you choose?
07:13 If you're practicing,
07:15 you're the first to use that instrument,
07:17 you're alive, and you make mistakes.
07:20 Or you practice as a specialist on a cadaver.
07:24 We call it a cadaver, not a cadaver.
07:26 Silent mentor.
07:28 Sleep mentor.
07:31 Whatever the doctor's specialization,
07:33 he has to go through anatomy classes.
07:36 So there's a big problem that the bodies
07:39 that they can study are already lacking.
07:42 Since 1905, this has only become a problem in UPCM,
07:47 according to Dr. Bundok.
07:49 From the 30 cadavers that are distributed by freshman students,
07:54 this year, only 10 cadavers will be distributed by 200 students.
08:02 And the bodies are limited to only one year.
08:08 So what about the next years?
08:12 We have to do something.
08:14 So we have to turn to technology.
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