Sections Health and Medicine The Truth About Philippine Medical Schools
| The Truth About Philippine Medical Schools |
Teri Hatcher’s comment in “Desperate Housewives” has stirred up a hornet’s nest of responses. Many people are offended; others just take it like a joke that it was meant to be.
It was indeed, meant to be a joke. However, it fails as such mainly due to the ignorance of ABC's writers. The line
before we go any further, can I check those diplomas because I just wanna make sure that they’re not from some med school in the Philippines.
was meant to imply that the Philippines is some sort of a bogus medical diploma mill, where anyone can obtain a doctor’s degree without any real training.
The truth, however, is so far from that - that the joke fails as an insult to the Caucasian doctor who attended to Teri Hatcher in the TV episode. If indeed he did get his diploma from the Philippines that would put his training at par with the highly-qualified 20,000+ other Philippine-trained medical practitioners here in the USA. Then it becomes more a compliment than an insult.
Remember, whether you studied here or abroad, you would have to pass a tough medical board exam in order to practice medicine in the USA and undergo internship plus fellowship in an accredited hospital. How would you do that if your training was inferior? What's more, most of those 20,000+ passed it in their first attempt. Need proof of that? Make your own survey, just ask the next Philippine-trained nurse or doctor that you come across - they are easy to spot, as they would be the ones cheerfully taking really good care of you.
That is not to say that the Philippines as a medical-teaching environment is perfect. It does have its shortcomings. Its schools of medicine are not as "High-Tech" as some of the medical colleges and universities in the United States. American schools can afford the state-of-the-art medical equipment, which is usually very expensive. The Philippines, being a poor country AND because its medical facilities don't charge as much, the local schools can usually ill afford them.
Now does that mean that these Philippine schools are inferior? Not in the least bit.
What they lack in terms of equipment, they have to make up for with good old-fashioned HARD WORK. Think of it as learning math without the aid of a computer or calculator. If you were trained in such manner, what can you do WITH one of those?
That's one of the reasons why they are so in-demand here in the US. We have the tools, and they are not trained to rely on them, but with medical gadgets, they become even more efficient. More efficiency means less stress dealing with an inherently stressful environment. Less stress translates directly into more time for patient care - more smiling doctors and nurses that are not too busy to stop by just to see how you are doing.
Below is a list of some of the medical schools in the Philippines. Though the list is not comprehensive (taken from WikiPedia), you would be hard pressed to find fault in any of these schools. Most of them have been around for more than 50 YEARS (UST is even older than Harvard by 25 Years!) or are extensions of prestigious schools. Definitely not fly-by-night operations, which I doubt the mostly Catholic teachers in the Philippines would agree with anyway.
* Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (University 1859)(Medicine 2007)
* Cebu Institute of Medicine (1957)
* Centro Escolar University (1907), Medical Technology (1960), Nursing (1975), Optometry (1928), Pharmacy (1921)
* Davao Medical School Foundation
* De La Salle-Health Sciences Campus - College of Medicine (1987)
* Far Eastern University - Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation (1952)
* Our Lady of Fatima University, Fatima College of Medicine (1967)
* Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, College of Medicine (1967)
* San Beda College, College of Medicine - (1901), (2002)
* St. Luke's Medical Center, William H. Quasha Memorial College of Medicine
* University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (UERMMMC) - (1956)
* University of the Philippines, Manila College of Medicine - (1908), 1907 (College of Medicine)
* University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Medicine and Surgery - (1611), Faculty of Medicine and Surgery (1871)
So what do we make of the Desperate Housewives "Joke"? Well, it does become funny if you consider its ironic ignorance. However, due to the show's popularity, it could damage the well-earned reputation of the Philippines in the field of medicine, and as such, a public retraction, apology and information campaign (to counter the misinformation that may have been caused) should be demanded from ABC Television Network.
As for the ignorance of the writers of that show, and to those inclined to believe whatever they see and hear on TV, I would suggest a month of classes with Jesuit teachers to fix their afflictions.
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User Comments
Dear Dr. Chua:
CC: Group of Dr. Abay
1.0 Thank you for your proposal.
1.1. We at the www.mabuhayradio.com in fact too the initiative of starting a public-relations campaign for our Filipino-American medical professionals. Please look at these articles:
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/576/51/ (How Filipino Doctors Can Enhance their Profiles as Some of the “World's Best Physicians”)
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/565/51/ (The Truth About Philippine Medical Schools)
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/477/51/ (A Partial History of Filipino Nurses in Europe and in Arkansas, Too)
2.0 The ABC Network and its owners, the Disney Corporation, will not do any "Historical Documentary" for any ethnic group because once they do that for Filipinos, all the other ethnic nationalities would demand the same treatment. And even the Disney Corp. will not be able to afford the project(s) that would involve more-than 120 nationalities.
2.1 It is up to us and the Filipino physicians in the United States, therefore, to document the history of Filipino medical practitioners (including nurses) in the United States, starting with the first Filipino pensionados who were sent to the United States to study in American colleges and universities in 1903. Several members of the first batch of the Pensionados took up medicine.
2.2 In fact our Philippine History Group of Los Angeles (PHGLA) had the privilege of hearing of our charter members, Frank Quismorio, Jr., M.D., talk about the history of the first-ever Medical Center of the United States, which was actually established in the Philippines. As you know, a "medical center" consists of a school of medicine, a hospital and a research institution all located in the same area (compound). The Americans did it in Manila by establishing the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Padre Faura, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in the adjacent Taft Avenue and the National Science Research Center located beside the PGH on Herran St. Incidentally Dr. Quismorio teaches at the University of Southern California's School of Medicine. I am giving the members of the PHGLA and Dr. Quismorio a BCC of this reply to you.
2.3 Another of our PHGLA charter members is Ramon Sison of Ilocos Norte and Los Angeles is a retired physician and he served with distinction the United States Army medical corps. In fact, I know of several Filipino physicians who served with honor the medical corps of the U.S. military. Their careers should be highlighted in this planned documentary.
Since you, Dr. Chua, write for the www.mabuhayradio.com, you can perhaps start to document the history of your profession in your column, Health@Heart.
Please let me know if your group of Filipino-American physicians may want to cooperate with us in documenting the positive contributions of Filipino medical professionals in the United States, their track record of exemplary services and their history. This is the best way to counteract any adverse publicity created by the "Desperate Housewives" TV series, which is of course total fiction. We have to highlight the achievements of our Filipino-American physicians and medical practitioners, who are often involved in real (and not fictional) life-and-death situations in the country.
Mabuhay,
Bobby M. Reyes
Editor
www.mabuhayradio.com
PS: You can forget the NaFFAA, as it is not interested in any real history. The NaFFAA national executive officers have teamed up with the Filipino-American National Historical Society (FANHS) and they have been coming up with historical hoaxes. They do not know history at all. We will publish this dialogue in the www.mabuhayradio.com (in the Users' Comments after the http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/576/51/ article).
In a message dated 10/14/2007 7:18:16 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, writes:
Jon Melegrito
Press - NaFFAA
Dear Jon-
Recognizing your leadership role in this controversy, I am hereby requesting you to consider the following at the Summit:
I suggest for you and your group to help me push for an additional demand that will help repair our tarnished image and reputation resulting from the Desperate Housewives slur. I recommend that we, as a united group, ask Disney/ABC network (as part of our "demand,") to produce a Historical Documentary about the Filipino physicians in the United States the past half a century, which will be a good way to educate the American public about the truth about our physicians. This will eventually vindicate us.
Please cicrulate this email awith the commentary below this to all leaders you know and to all your e-contact.
In that Vegas summit, I will be represented by my Vice-Chairman, Dr. Sarie Laserna, who is leading our Filipino United Network(USA) Board Director contingents to that summit.
A CAVEAT:
We MUST be united, and speak with ONE UNITED voice, otherwise we are guaranteed to face our Waterloo !
If we could no be united, perhaps it would be better for us to shut up!
Best wishes and God bless.
Philip S. Chua, M.D., FACS, FPCS
Chairman
Filipino United Network (USA)
Email:
CC: Group of Dr. Abay
1.0 Thank you for your proposal.
1.1. We at the www.mabuhayradio.com in fact too the initiative of starting a public-relations campaign for our Filipino-American medical professionals. Please look at these articles:
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/576/51/ (How Filipino Doctors Can Enhance their Profiles as Some of the “World's Best Physicians”)
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/565/51/ (The Truth About Philippine Medical Schools)
http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/477/51/ (A Partial History of Filipino Nurses in Europe and in Arkansas, Too)
2.0 The ABC Network and its owners, the Disney Corporation, will not do any "Historical Documentary" for any ethnic group because once they do that for Filipinos, all the other ethnic nationalities would demand the same treatment. And even the Disney Corp. will not be able to afford the project(s) that would involve more-than 120 nationalities.
2.1 It is up to us and the Filipino physicians in the United States, therefore, to document the history of Filipino medical practitioners (including nurses) in the United States, starting with the first Filipino pensionados who were sent to the United States to study in American colleges and universities in 1903. Several members of the first batch of the Pensionados took up medicine.
2.2 In fact our Philippine History Group of Los Angeles (PHGLA) had the privilege of hearing of our charter members, Frank Quismorio, Jr., M.D., talk about the history of the first-ever Medical Center of the United States, which was actually established in the Philippines. As you know, a "medical center" consists of a school of medicine, a hospital and a research institution all located in the same area (compound). The Americans did it in Manila by establishing the University of the Philippines College of Medicine in Padre Faura, the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in the adjacent Taft Avenue and the National Science Research Center located beside the PGH on Herran St. Incidentally Dr. Quismorio teaches at the University of Southern California's School of Medicine. I am giving the members of the PHGLA and Dr. Quismorio a BCC of this reply to you.
2.3 Another of our PHGLA charter members is Ramon Sison of Ilocos Norte and Los Angeles is a retired physician and he served with distinction the United States Army medical corps. In fact, I know of several Filipino physicians who served with honor the medical corps of the U.S. military. Their careers should be highlighted in this planned documentary.
Since you, Dr. Chua, write for the www.mabuhayradio.com, you can perhaps start to document the history of your profession in your column, Health@Heart.
Please let me know if your group of Filipino-American physicians may want to cooperate with us in documenting the positive contributions of Filipino medical professionals in the United States, their track record of exemplary services and their history. This is the best way to counteract any adverse publicity created by the "Desperate Housewives" TV series, which is of course total fiction. We have to highlight the achievements of our Filipino-American physicians and medical practitioners, who are often involved in real (and not fictional) life-and-death situations in the country.
Mabuhay,
Bobby M. Reyes
Editor
www.mabuhayradio.com
PS: You can forget the NaFFAA, as it is not interested in any real history. The NaFFAA national executive officers have teamed up with the Filipino-American National Historical Society (FANHS) and they have been coming up with historical hoaxes. They do not know history at all. We will publish this dialogue in the www.mabuhayradio.com (in the Users' Comments after the http://www.mabuhayradio.com/content/view/576/51/ article).
In a message dated 10/14/2007 7:18:16 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time, writes:
Jon Melegrito
Press - NaFFAA
Dear Jon-
Recognizing your leadership role in this controversy, I am hereby requesting you to consider the following at the Summit:
I suggest for you and your group to help me push for an additional demand that will help repair our tarnished image and reputation resulting from the Desperate Housewives slur. I recommend that we, as a united group, ask Disney/ABC network (as part of our "demand,") to produce a Historical Documentary about the Filipino physicians in the United States the past half a century, which will be a good way to educate the American public about the truth about our physicians. This will eventually vindicate us.
Please cicrulate this email awith the commentary below this to all leaders you know and to all your e-contact.
In that Vegas summit, I will be represented by my Vice-Chairman, Dr. Sarie Laserna, who is leading our Filipino United Network(USA) Board Director contingents to that summit.
A CAVEAT:
We MUST be united, and speak with ONE UNITED voice, otherwise we are guaranteed to face our Waterloo !
If we could no be united, perhaps it would be better for us to shut up!
Best wishes and God bless.
Philip S. Chua, M.D., FACS, FPCS
Chairman
Filipino United Network (USA)
Email:
Comment by GUEST on 2007-10-14 10:51:33 Using IP: 76.171.11.152
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