Doctor on Call

Anyone whose lived in the Philippines,lalo na sa Metro Manila, would have heard of the Color Coding Traffic Management Scheme. This takes effect at certain hours of the day considered rush hour.

On Mondays, vehicles with plate numbers ending with1 or 2 are not allowed to traverse the roads of the Metro. On succeeding days, it would be vehicles with plates ending with the other numbers.  There are only a few exceptions to this plan. On holidays, the scheme is usually suspended. Otherwise, those with special LTO/Police/Military clearance can get a free pass. Another exception would be doctors on-call.

Since the number coding scheme was implemented more than a decade ago, doctors started using signs or bumper stickers on their cars saying just that: Doctor On Call. They need just point to the sign, and the friendly neighborhood MMDA would let them through.  I think that in the beginning, the traffic enforcers may have actually stopped them and asked for credentials, but now? I doubt it.

The other day, habang nagaabang ng taxi sa may MRT Quezon Avenue, I saw three cars flagged down by the MMDA. None of them stopped. Instead, they just pointed to their Doctor on Call signs.

How are we to know that they really were doctors? Or that they were really in a hurry to see to an emergency?

Ang dali lang naman bumili ng sticker or sign sa bookstore or sa mall. Those stickers/signs aren’t just available for doctors. Anyone can buy them.

So nakakapagtaka ba na trapik pa rin sa Metro Manila?