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Former beauty queen Dr. KC Halili joins fight vs. COVID-19
Dr. KC Halili wears many hats: she was a beauty queen, having won the title of Miss Manila in 2014. She was also nurse, before becoming a full-fledged doctor.
But it is in her capacity as the medical director of healthcare holdings company DNA Holdings that she's helping in the fight against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
In an interview with GMA News Online, Halili shared that she helps with testing patients, building mobile hospitals and laboratories, and manufacturing test kits.
"I'm still exposed to a lot of people, a lot of carriers. I've tested people who turned out to be exposed or positive," she said. "I'm just doing the best that I can to protect myself and limit all the meetings."
Asked why she decided to help despite the risk, she answered, "It's my sworn duty as a doctor to help especially since it's a health crisis."
Crown vs. Medicine
According to the former beauty queen, her goal was always to become a doctor.
She was still in med school when she decided to take a leave and enter pageantry. She had brought home the Miss Manila crown back in 2014.
"The plan had always been to be a doctor. The pageantry was just an off tangent stint kasi when I was in med school I craved for contributing to my community in a much bigger aspect," she said.
Halili shared that she was inspired by the success of Megan Young, who took home the Miss World 2013 crown.
"I saw then it was the time when beauty pageant was on the rise again with Megan winning...and I felt like they had this platform where they can just do anything they want any organization they want to help in," she said.
"I feel like there's something more that I can do aside from study," she added.
After winning the crown, Halili went back to school and finally became a doctor.
Fighting COVID-19 from the back end
Although she doesn't tend to the patients directly, Halili takes pride in shaping the health system itself.
"Even if I'm not directly in contact with patients, I'm actually helping shape the health system and that's actually directing the health management that needs to be coordinated for us to solve this crisis so we can hurry flatten the curve and we can all go back to our normal lives as fast as we can," she shared.
She added, "I always want to be at the frontlines even now that technically I'm at the back end of this fight trying to navigate this system."
The restricted mobility amid the COVID-19 pandemic has made it a challenge for her and her company to import personal protective equipment, test kits among other things into the country.
But Halili didn't become a beauty queen for nothing — pageant training has taught her to stay composed and calm in the face of challenges.
"As a beauty queen I guess you always have to learn to stay composed, especially when you're anxious or in front of people," she said.
Right now, Halili said she feels she's living life with purpose.
"It leads us to this passion and vocation that what we're doing is really something that benefits mankind. In that sense, we're living life with purpose," she said.
She added, "I just hope whatever I'm doing right now would matter in the larger sense for how we'll solve this pandemic, for my family in Tarlac and for my family in the UK, and of course for other Filipino families and the entire country as a whole."
—JCB, GMA News
