More Than Just Being Physicians
Doctors Navarette-Clemente and del Mundo took their medical practice a step further and put up their own hospitals
By Lucio Victor Jr.
Women in the medical profession have come a long way. The first two Filipina physicians had to study at the Women's Medical College in Pennsylvania since medical schools in the Philippines then did not consider females fit and capable to cut it out in medicine. Against the odds, Dr. Honoria Acosta-Sison graduated in 1909, Dr. Olivia Salamanca a year later. Both women sought refuge in the academic freedom that the United States afforded. In fact, both excelled not only in medical school, but in their respective specialties-Dr. Acosta-Sison in obstetrics and gynecology and Dr. Salamanca in internal medicine.
Though little is known about her, the first Filipina to graduate from the Philippine Medical School (forerunner of the UP College of Medicine) was Isabel Katigbak, who belonged to the first batch of 1910. Most accounts record Dr. Maria Paz Mendoza-Guazon as one of the first Filipina graduates of the UP College of Medicine in 1912. Just like Drs. Acosta Sison and Salamanca, Dr. Mendoza-Guazon excelled in her chosen field of pathology. Since then, women in the medical profession have not only transcended the great gender divide but also surpassed every norm thinkable.
Heroines
Dr. Thelma Navarrete-Clemente, founder and medical director of the Capitol Medical Center recalled how women through the 20th century battled the odds to fit in and conform to the male dominated and dictated field. She lamented the lopsided admission policies in medical schools that favored men. But she noted these barriers only made members of the distaff gender persevere and excel, and gain renown for their achievement.
One of the most important contributions of female physicians that has caught global acknowledgment is their devotion to duty in times of war. With rheumy eyes Dr. Navarrete-Clemente recalls how female medical students and lady doctors battled death and disease during World War II, when men, doctors included, were forced to man the battle stations. War it seemed equalized everyone-men and women, rich and poor, old and young.
"Some medical students at that time were recalled to their homes. Some took to the mountains to fight, but we stayed at the Philippine General Hospital where we were needed," said Dr. Navarrete-Clemente of the selfless decision. "Sometimes we didn't have the medicine and the food to eat. You can't cook food at night because if the Japanese soldiers saw your light they might shoot you thinking it was a warning signal to the US forces. Oftentimes we were assisting as late as 2 a.m. in the operating room with only a meager breakfast. Our knees were already trembling but we were still working."
It was during the war years that women doctors emerged heroines. It was a time when a woman in white was not just a nurse taking orders from the doctor but the doctor herself. The postwar era according to Dr. Clemente saw women ease into key positions in the academe, hospital administration, medical societies, and, says Dr. Navarrete-Clemente, still find time and energy "to be a good mother, dutiful wife, competent physician, and Filipino citizen serving her fellowmen."
Giving Sanctuary
Dr. Navarrete-Clemente, aside from being a noted obstetrician also served countless numbers through her hospital, the Capitol Medical Center, whose foundations were first laid down at a three-bed lying-in clinic at the back of the Clemente home in Tondo. Here she would give free Pap smear examinations to underprivileged women. Then her lying-in clinic relocated to the back of her sister's pharmacy and grew to a nine-bed clinic with one private room.
Despite getting busier with her private practice she never shunned the poor. Dr. Navarrete-Clemente felt it was her duty to the countless women to give her services when needed-often free. In 1966, Dr. Navarrete-Clemente and her husband Luis bought a lot along Panay Avenue in Quezon City. A year later, they organized CMC. In June 20, 1970, the hospital opened.
Long is Dr. Navarette-Clemente's list of accomplishments. But one that clearly stands out is her perennial election (12 years in all) as president of the Philippine Hospital Association. Today, she still serves as the association's president emeritus. At the helm of the PHA, she espoused physician duty above all, urging her fellow doctors to always make themselves available to the needy. Said she: "[You owe it to] the 50 to 60 percent of the population who are medically indigent, who die without even seeing a doctor."
For Dr. Navarrete-Clemente her work-from lecturer at the UP-PGH Department of OB-Gynecology to hospital administrator-is just a means of paying back to the masses. She sums it all up: "If you are a graduate of UP it is the people's money that sent you to college [or medical school]. You pay only a small amount for tuition and you get the chance to learn and eventually practice in PGH. In return, [you] give free service to people and teach for free as a sign of gratitude for the knowledge we have acquired using the people's money."
Similar Paths
Like Dr. Navarrete-Clemente, Dr. Fe del Mundo also put up the Fe del Mundo Medical Center (FDMMC) to answer the demand of Filipino children for quality health care. For Dr. del Mundo, it was a labor of love inspired by her goal to serve the needy as a pediatrician. Her first tall order came when after coming back to the Philippines from her postgraduate studies at Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins, Columbia-Presbyterian, and other foreign medical centers, war broke out in the South Pacific. Dr. del Mundo found herself taking care of American and Australian children in a makeshift hospital converted from a school-the Lincoln Memorial.
When liberation came and her 400 patients went back to their own respective countries, she put up a children's hospital that soon became the North General Hospital. As the hospital's medical director, Dr. Del Mundo ensured that the residents got quality training and the hospital offered adequate medical service to its clients. North General Hospital later became the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center.
Against All Odds
In 1952, the cornerstone of the first building of the FDMMC was laid by Armi Krusella, the first Miss Universe who at that time was married to Filipino multi-millionaire Virgilio Hilario. The building was located along Banawe Street in Quezon City and opened in 1957. Since then two more five-story buildings were added. A fourth building awaits construction. Dr. Del Mundo single-handedly put up the FDMMC.
At about four years into operations, she was forced to sell her house so she could buy an elevator for the hospital. Then she was able to build her second building through a loan from the Government Service Insurance System and a private bank. She recalls the poignant details: "I had no collateral. I did not have the money. But then a bank [extended] me a character loan. Eventually, I was able to pay all these loans." And just as soon as she acquired a new house, she once had to sell it again so she could build the hospital's adult wing.
Dr. del Mundo also wrote a weekly column that offered parents and laypersons advice on caring for babies and children. Titled Baby and You, the column ran for 20 years in The Sunday Times Magazine (the weekly magazine of the Manila Times) and was later compiled into a book and translated into Filipino. She is also editor and one of the authors of the Textbook of Philippine Pediatrics and Child Health, which is now in its fourth edition.
Dr. del Mundo has a mile-long list of awards and citations. Among her most notable achievements are organizing the Philippine Medical Women's Association and co-founding the Philippine Pediatric Society.
In all that she has done, one thing has guided her. "To be in medicine you mustn't expect to get rich. It is more charity work than amassing wealth," she says so plainly.
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