Joti Tabula

Dr. Joti Tabula is a medical doctor and poet, hailing from San Antonio, Zambales in the Philippines. In this conversation, we talk to him about how he weaves together his medical and literary practices, how he deals with “sideline guilt” and the experience of living during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. Tabula is a co-editor of the literary anthology Pagninilay: Hinga, Hingal, at Hingalo sa Panahon ng Pandemya (published in 2020), together with Doctors Alvin B. Caballes and Noel P. Pingoy. It is part of a three-volume book series launched by the Philippine General Hospital's (PGH) Human Spirit Project (facebook.com/pghhsp): an online archive that documents the stories of the people who work in PGH, since it became one of the country’s Covid-19 referral centers and battlegrounds against the virus. Now available in e-book format (tinyurl.com/PGHHSPPagninilay), Pagninilay offers a holistic examination and perspective of the pandemic, and the third volume tells the stories of front-liners and nonfront-liners from hospitals outside of PGH and local communities. Listen as Dr. Tabula speaks about his transdisciplinary practice of narrative medicine and the healing that literature can serve in our lives, especially in the face of uncertainty.