SPSA – PCS Accommodation and Cooperation:Revisited
Since it’s inception, our Society has had an ongoing relationship with the Philippine College of Surgeons (PCS) – the premier surgical organization in the Philippines. These interactions have been in the form of personal friendships between members of both organizations and the participation of our members as invited speakers, discussants and panelist during the annual Clinical Congress of the PCS. On a few occasions, some of us served as resource consultants to a number of this organization’s Committees. Leafing through old issues of the Philippine Surgeon, I was pleasantly surprised to see printed in the front page of the Inaugural issue published in March, 1975 a picture consisting of representatives of the Philippine College of Surgeons attending as guests of the Society at it’s first annual reception and dinner which was held in Chicago on October, 1973 during the American College of Surgeons annual convention. In attendance were: Drs. Antonio C. Oposa, then President of the PCS, George Eufemio, Romeo Estrellado, Jose Caedo and Pedro Reyes, all of whom were at that time already well established and highly respected members of the Philippine Surgical community and certainly on their way to prestigious careers in Surgery.
On a personal note, I have been privileged to be associated with the PCS since 1966 when I was elected fellow of the College during my brief clinical practice of Pediatric Surgery at the University of Santo Tomas Hospital and a teaching appointment in the College of Medicine in Manila following my postgraduate training in the United States. I enjoyed the friendship and acquaintance of many fellows of the PCS, most of whom completed their postgraduate training in the various surgical specialties in Medical Centers of Excellence in this Country. Fortunately for the people of the Philippines, they elected to return and practice in our motherland. Because of their unique skills and advanced training, they all became pillars of the Surgical community. They were involved in teaching, developed training programs, established criteria for accreditation of these programs and implemented a certification process in the various surgical specialties. At the same time, they were responsible in elevating the level of surgical care in the Philippines by virtue of their excellent clinical work, example and practice. During the 33rd Congress of the PCS held in December of 1977, I and four other members of the SPSA namely, Sariel G.G. Ablaza, Daniel C. Fabito, Edgardo S. Alday, all Past presidents of the SPSA and Delfin S. Santos, then a member of the Board of Governors were invited as speakers. A major highlight of the PCS Clinical Congress is the Gregorio T. Singian lecture given in honor of the Founder and First President of the PCS. The President and the Board of Regents select the annual lecturer based on the individual’s distinguished accomplishments in the Surgical Sciences and contributions to education, clinical surgery and research, which emulate the achievements and example of the late Dr. Singian. Undauntedly, the greatest honor and certainly among the most memorable occasion in my professional career took place when I was honored with the invitation to deliver the Gregorio T. Singian lecture during the 35th Congress of the PCS held in December of 1979. I delivered this lecture with great dignity, humility and a deep sense of pride because of the realization that this recognition was accorded by my peers in the Country of my birth and upbringing.
For several years since the initial participation of our members with the PCS clinical congress and up until a year ago, we continue to be invited individually at this annual educational event. Some other cooperative endeavors involved ad hoc arrangements such as the financial support and assistance to two surgeons representing the PCS and the Department of Health in the Philippines to obtain ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) training; a course offered by the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons in the United States. The SPSA Board of Governors approved this proposal and the SPSA arranged the course including the payment of the required fees through the Philippine Surgeons Charity. Both of these Trauma surgeons are now among the leaders advancing the cause for Trauma care in the country through legislation, increased funding for projects related to Trauma and expanded exposure of practitioners and surgical house staff to trauma education and research. These activities are through the auspices and support of the Philippine College of Surgeons and the Department of Health in the National Government. Through their efforts, the theme of the 58th annual clinical congress of the PCS held in Manila last December of 2002 was devoted to “Emerging Trends in Trauma and Critical Care”. The high degree of sophistication in trauma care, clinical research and education in the Philippines by our colleagues practicing in that Country was clearly evident during this meeting.
Two of our fellows, Drs. Rolando Mendiola, a Past President of the SPSA and Tom Chua, both highly recognized specialist in laparoscopic surgery in this Country were instrumental in developing a minimally invasive surgery program in the Philippines and to the best of my knowledge they have had the opportunity of training some of the prominent laparoscopic surgeons now in practice in that Country.
There have been several efforts to develop formal cooperative agreements in the past but never materialized due to logistics, philosophical differences and lack of appropriate follow-up. Dr. Crescencio Abes, a distinguished surgical practitioner and educator in Manila and former President of the PCS including a host of other officers of the PCS tried their best to help develop collaborative programs between the two organizations. On several occasions, discussions were held regarding a joint educational meeting with the PCS but this too fell into oblivion. In 1992, with an initial funding of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) from the Philippine Surgeons Charity a jointly sponsored Surgical scholar program geared to replace the current SPSA program was approved by the Boards of both organizations and follow-up communications and discussions were ongoing until 1994. This initiative likewise failed for lack of interest, lack of follow-up and an illogical perception that our Society and those responsible for our program will lose credit and control of a highly visible activity.
The Philippine College of Surgeons currently has extensive outreach programs in Manila and the various Cities and Provinces in the Philippines some of which are in conjunction with the PCS Chapter organizations. Our Society may elect to officially participate in any or all of these programs which include: The annual Clinical Congress; Postgraduate Medical Education in the Provinces and Cities outside Manila; Surgical Missions; SURE (Surgery for Unvisited Regions for Education); Surgical Scholar Program to ASEAN countries; Specialists to the Provinces Program (in conjunction with the Department of Health, PSA(Philippine Society of Anesthesiologists) and United Laboratories and clinical research activities, re: Evidence based clinical practice guidelines in the Surgical specialties.
To maximize our Society’s efforts in achieving our goals in the fields of continuing medical education, surgical scholar program and surgical mission, I propose that instead of maintaining some of our programs independent of other organizations, it is perhaps to our best interest to find ways and means by which we can officially collaborate with the PCS in the above programs. As an example, a cooperative endeavor in the SURE, Surgical Mission and Specialists to the Provinces Programs offering our financial support, surgical supplies and manpower and sharing our individual experiences in our own Institutions with respect to the monitoring and improvement of quality of patient care issues will certainly gain respect for our Society and will lead to the enhancement of our Society’s prestige and influence in improving surgical care and surgical education in communities of greatest need in the Philippines. The Traveling Surgical Fellow program to the United States should now be channeled through an appropriate committee of the PCS whose responsibility will be to select and certify candidates. Our Society’s role through our Traveling Surgical Fellow Committee will consist of the scholar’s financial support, clinical rotations and other logistic arrangements to ensure the program’s success.
Hernan M. Reyes, M.D., FACS, FPCS(Hon.)
Founding President, SPSA
Professor of Surgery Emeritus, Rush Medical College,
Rush University Medical Center and the University of Illinois
College of Medicine in Chicago
Chairman Emeritus, Department of Surgery,
Cook County Hospital, Chicago, IL