Internationally-acclaimed film director Brillante Mendoza recently presented his latest masterpiece, Hilom, A Tribute to the Doctors to the Barrios, during the launch and screening of the film at SM Megamall Cinema 12.
![Brillante Mendoza’s ‘Hilom’ at SM Megamall](http://www.manilastandard.net/panel/_files/image/New_Images/featured_image/2019/June/13/hilom_at_sm_megamall.jpg)
Written by Boots Agbayani-Pastor, Hilom follows the story of Dr. Elenita “Ellen” Sancho-Peralta, MD as she goes to a remote municipality in the Bicol region to serve her two-year stint. At the same time, her husband, Doc Alex, whom she recently married, goes to another Bicol town to serve his term as a “Doctor to the Barrios.”
Starring Julia Montes and Kean Cipriano with Archie Adamos, Ruby Ruiz, Philip Palmos, Red Ibasco, Bibo Bayona, Ryan Sandoval, Dexter Macaraeg, Cataleya Surio, Lito Capina, and Red Martin, this film is dedicated to the “Doctors to the Barrios”—then, now and in the future.
The film is a project of the Department of Health through the Health Promotion and Communication Service and the Health Human Resources Development Bureau. It is based on The Doctors to the Barrios(DTTB) Program of the DOH Human Resource for Health Deployment programs, which was created in May 1993 to respond to the inequitable distribution of scarce resources and varying pace of development in the 271 doctorless municipalities identified in 1992.
![Brillante Mendoza’s ‘Hilom’ at SM Megamall](http://www.manilastandard.net/panel/_files/image/New_Images/featured_image/2019/June/13/hilom_at_sm_megamall2.jpg)
The DTTB program is a strategy of the national government to redistribute doctors to increase access to quality healthcare services by the marginalized, vulnerable and underserved population of the country.
The Program is in line with the strategies of Fourmula One Plus, to ensure equitable distribution of Human Resources for Health (HRH). DTTBs serve as frontline health care workers that deliver critical community health services in support of the attainment of Universal Health Care (UHC).
This project between DOH and Brillante Mendoza aims to highlight the efforts of volunteer doctors and other medical staff who regularly visit barrios to hold free checkups on the poor as well as encourage future doctors to be part of the program.
The launch and screening of Brillante Mendoza’s Hilom, A Tribute to the Doctors to the Barrios is one of the many exciting events at SM Megamall.