Abstract

In recent years, the value of Medical Volunteerism has been crucial in the field of medicine all around the world. According to Naylor et. al. (2013), volunteers serve an important role in the health, social, and welfare of a person in need. In particular, they help by giving improvement and promoting health care in hard-to-reach communities. According to Hagnam (2011), Volunteerism in the Philippines is widespread since it has been practiced by many Filipinos for generations. The aforementioned author also highlighted the term Bayanihan which refers to the Filipino tradition of helping others, drive these volunteers to adhere to the call of volunteerism. Recognizing the important role of volunteers, the Philippine government has implemented RA 9418 which is an act that promotes the engagement in volunteerism of different sectors in the Philippines and protects the welfare of the volunteers. In addition, the "Volunteer Act of 2007" aims to understand the phenomena on volunteerism in the Philippines. Specifically in Pampanga, collaborative efforts to give out their free services to different communities are seen through the different NGO who helps different groups of communities who lack necessary needs to sustain oneself especially if their health care are in bad condition. In a Palliative and Hospice Report in the Philippines, 40% of hospitals belong to the government and most of the poor patients gravitate to a service which is free-of-charge who are admitted. These organisations were established to support the government's action on volunteering. Furthermore, according to Prado (2018), volunteers often visit indigenous people such as Aetas in municipalities of Pampanga such as FloridaBlanca, Guagua, Porac and Angeles to provide medical assistance because they lack medical facilities and expertise in their communities. Despite the presence of these efforts, there are still many people who does not prefer to join volunteering programs due to different barriers that serves as a hindrance in doing volunteer works.