Incoming school year is a few weeks away and like in the previous two years when enrollment is still being done online, my daughters needed to submit their requirements so they can get listed. My youngest who will be in Grade 11 this school year had a new requirement for this year – a medical certificate. I wasn’t surprised though since we’ve already read about the plans of DepEd to have the face-to-face classes this coming school year.
The requirement though in the enrollment form of my daughter did not have any details of what kind of medical certificate should it be so and so I thought that the most sensible will be a fit-to-enroll medical certificate. When my eldest enrolled as freshman in college this year, Ateneo also required her to get a medical certificate which had more details in it – a chest x-ray and vaccination certificate which include her vaccine history since she was a child. We had no choice but to get the x-ray and visit her pediatrician who finally issued her medical certificate.
For my youngest daughter, I’ve thought of using MWell app to get an e-medical certificate. It was our first time to use a teleconsult and I thought why not give it a try instead of going to the pediatrician at once and get lab tests that might not be needed for now.
MWell App has this health savings plan worth P399 (P450 including transaction fee I paid via Paymaya) which gave us access to 2 consultations including free e-medical certificates. I’ve checked out the rates of the pediatricians and the lowest rate I saw was P400 so the plan was really a budget saver.
In about 10 minutes after I clicked Consult Now, Dr. Prescila Aquino was in a video call/teleconsult with my daughter. The doctor’s specializations are Primary Care , COVID-19 so I thought it was perfect. We told her that our main reason for the call was to get an e-medical certificate that we can attach to my daughter’s online enrollment form. She asked my daughter about her current wellness and her previous health status and I also answered for her that she seems to be well and there are no visible symptoms of any kind of illness. The doctor told us though that she can’t indicate in the medical certificate that my daughter is fit-to-enroll since there are no actual basis such as laboratory tests or chest x-rays that she can look into. However, she could still give us a medical certificate stating that she is essentially normal based on clinical history. I told her that it will be good for now and that we will accept that as the enrollment requirement was not even definite or clearly described. If ever the school will deem the certificate insufficient and that we really have to go to a lab or to her pediatrician, then we will of course comply.
We got the e-medical certificate with the doctor’s signature after 30 minutes and my daughter was able to submit her enrollment today.
With the inflation right now, if ever schools will require medical certificates for enrollment, I think the government should subsidize these especially for those studying in public schools. Or if not, then the health center of barangays should be able to accommodate these for free. We’ve also tried to go to our barangay before to get a medical certificate but the staff only gave us a long list of lab tests and asked us to go back when they were already fulfilled.
My point is that enrollment should not be that difficult especially if the child is generally fit and has no recent history of illness. We’ve stopped going to the pediatrician when my kids got into elementary not because I neglect their health but because I see to it that they are healthy at home and we go to the doctor when we see symptoms of anything unusual.
How about you? Were your kids required of medical certificates to be able to enroll as well?
