Filipina nurses: Modern-day heroes in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. File Photo: GMA Network n alarming report published today by the Asia Times reports that doctors and nurses in the Philippines are being discriminated against because they are seen as potential carriers of the coronavirus. Analiza Perez-Amurao writes that there is “a mounting culture of fear targeting medical frontline workers, who are now seen by many agitated locals as potential virus carriers. That fear, in certain instances, has led to violence.” The report goes on to cite some examples. “On March 27, a nurse in Sultan Kudarat province on the southern island of Mindanao became one of the first reported victims of pandemic-related physical harassment when he was attacked by five men who thought he was a COVID-19 carrier. In a street-level attack, the suspects splashed bleach over the nurse’s face, prompting his local employer, St Louis Hospital, to publicly denounce the assault, which it said could have caused “irreparable and permanent damage to his sight.” The attack happened shortly after the province announced its first COVID-19 fatality. “In central Iloilo province, landlords have reportedly ordered nurses to vacate their houses for fear that they are carrying the virus with them from their hospitals,” Perez-Amurao writes. There are also reports that “restaurant owners have also barred medical workers from their premises due to fears they might contaminate their eateries and drive away other customers. Several others have been barred from boarding buses and been refused entry at border checkpoints.” For starters, most Filipinos will probably find such blatant discrimination unacceptable. This government, which claims that it is looking after the common folk, should immediately put a stop to this hysteria. President Rodrigo Duterte has to nip this in the bud and announce on national TV that the country owes a debt of gratitude to its frontline healthcare professionals, and that discrimination or attacks against them will not be tolerated. The nation will only be hurting itself if such acts, by an ill-informed minority, are allowed to continue unabated. Discriminatory acts are occurring in other countries as well. Reports from inside China indicate that there are places where foreigners are no longer allowed in some eateries because locals now view them as COVID-19 carriers—this from the country that caused the pandemic in the first place! But we Filipinos are so much better than that. So we must not discriminate. Instead, let us all honor and support the work of those involved in the fight against this deadly virus. The doctors and nurses manning the frontlines of this pandemic are our modern-day heroes, and they should be treated with the respect they so rightly deserve. Published 4/1/2020