As a pediatric nephrologist, it’s painful to be treating a child as young as seven years old for chronic kidney disease [CKD]. This could have been prevented if intervention was done earlier.”

Her words brought on vivid memories. One was of a man who I would occasionally bump into in the parking area whenever I would do the rounds trying to look for a parking space. He drove a white utility vehicle which had a makeshift sign that said, “Dialysis patient on board.” His child required treatment thrice a week, and they would travel all the way from the uplands of Cavite, making sure to leave in the early hours of the morning in order to make it to their scheduled session.

The other one was of a guard who worked in the building where a sibling of mine lives. Years back, he had told me that he had seen me in the hospital when he took his child, who also had a renal condition, for a consult. They were under the care of a private specialist because they didn’t have the time to wait in line for social services, as his wife was also working. With a pained smile, he shared that the cost of the maintenance medications was getting to be too prohibitive. Hoping to provide a solution, I looked into it, but learned that there were no generic alternatives in the market. On occasions when I would chance upon him manning the open guard house in the rain, I couldn’t help but wonder how they managed to cope.