Legacy in PH healthcare

THE PHILIPPINE Medical Association (PMA) marks its 112th foundation anniversary on Sept. 15. It’s an opportune time to recall its beginnings.

Among the blessings endowed by the US government on the Philippines besides democracy are healthcare development, a western system of education and social welfare. Being a physician, my focus has been on health and sanitation.

After the surrender in 1899 of Filipino forces under Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo to Gen. Arthur MacArthur (the father of Douglas MacArthur), the US Congress named William Howard Taft as the civil governor of the Philippines. An amiable man and a great humanitarian, Taft was moved by the deplorable conditions involving health and sanitation, and asked the US Congress to approve a health budget for the country.

The US Congress instructed the American Red Cross to coordinate with Taft, who in turn recruited Maj. John R. McDill, MD, to organize a medical society that would oversee the implementation of health projects in the Philippines.

On July 9, 1902, the Manila Medical Society was founded, with Filipino and American city physicians and recruits from the Colegio Medico Farmaceutico de Filipinas as members. But the US Congress stipulated that a national medical organization be formed to affiliate with the American Medical Association (AMA). This organization was to receive health appropriations for the Philippines.

Manila Medical Society president McDill convened the available physicians from nearby provinces, merged them with those in Manila, and organized the Philippine Islands Medical Association (Pima) on Sept. 15, 1903. Thus, the Pima earned an annual health budget for the Philippines from the US Congress from its inception in 1903 until 1946, when the country obtained its independence and Pima became the PMA.

The first seven Pima presidents were Americans, and they set the pace for health improvements in the country.

The Pima unified Filipino physicians and implemented crash programs to develop and update healthcare and delivery of services. It also organized the first national medical convention in 1907 in Iloilo City, and was instrumental in the establishment of what later became the University of the Philippines College of Medicine.

Through legislation, Pima leaders in Congress developed the Bureau of Health into a Department of Health, and established the Bureau of Research laboratories. It lobbied for the passage of the Nationalization Law, under which only Filipino physicians may practice in the country.

The Pima also worked for the establishment of St. Paul’s Hospital, Mary Johnston Hospital, Philippine General Hospital, and Santolan Sanatorium for Tuberculosis.

It instituted the Pima Code of Ethics by amending the AMA Code of Ethics, put up the Pima Medical Journal, and organized the Government Committee on Drugs and Patents, the Medical Board of Examiners, and the Liga Anti

Cancerosa to help the government fight cancer.

It discovered the cause of beri-beri as well as its treatment (tiki-tiki), gained recognition and affiliation with the World Medical Association, and helped found the Confederation of the Medical Associations of Asia and Oceania.

After 1946, the PMA established the Medical Care Commission, which eventually became today’s PhilHealth. It set up the Family Planning Project; organized Task Force Caduceus to monitor and investigate abortionists, malpractice and quackery; and founded the Association of Pediatric Societies in Southeast Asia.

It defended the right of physicians to practice in areas of conflict, and obtained freedom of physicians to travel during the curfew hours of martial law.

The PMA worked for the amendment of the medical curriculum and the return of internship to the medical colleges.

It opposed in principle the Generic Law, which removes from doctors the exclusive right to prescribe and control the use of drugs in healthcare, and opposed and helped prevent compulsory medical community service after graduation.

It opposed as well the unfair and dictatorial policies of the Bureau of Internal Revenue on doctors’ tax payments.

The PMA made donations and conducted medical missions in depressed and disaster areas, such as those ravaged by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

It maintains a membership of 70,000 physicians and a network of 118 component societies nationwide. It maintains and monitors high-quality healthcare through its commissions on ethics and on continuing medical education.

Santiago A. del Rosario, MD, is a former president of the PMA.