STERLING RECORD
The Philippine Children's Medical Center marks 25 years of service, training, and research
In most hospitals in the country, a 500-gram baby may face low odds of surviving. But at the Philippine Children's Medical Center (PCMC), the odds are high that he would live to see the light of day. In fact, there are countless of them who did, and the hospital is still counting.
The PCMC, which marked its silver aniversary in April, is the best and biggest tertiary-care center for children under the Department of Health, yet it doesn't look like a charity hospital at all. The rooms are uncluttered; the staff, warm and courteous; and no patients are lining up or cramming the corridors. Order is everywhere: from the janitors to the guards to the nurses and doctors.
The PCMC aims to provide quality specialty medical care for children from birth to 21 years and high-risk pregnant women; train health care providers in pediatrics, pediatric subspecialties, and perinatal care; and conduct research on the management and control of pediatric disorders.
Its reputation for excellent patient care is equaled by its reputation as a training center and a research venue. PCMC was a recipient of the Salamin ng Bayan Award in 1992 and 1994, Buhay Award in 1995, National Public Service Award in 1997, and the Three-Star Excellence Award in 1998.
Sixty percent of the hospital is dedicated to charity patients, 40 to paying patients.
"A family with you" is not just a mantra at the PCMC building along Quezon Avenue in Quezon City. Doctors decide with the family what is best for their patients. The care is highly personal and thorough. Not only does the hospital operate a day-care center, it has also a preschool within its premises.
It has a full complement of specialists recognized in their own disciplines. Pediatric subspecialty services currently offered include anesthesiology, dentistry, developmental pediatrics, hematology and oncology, infectious diseases, intensive care, nephrology, neonatology, neurology, pathology, perinatology, pediatric gynecology, psychiatry, pulmonology, rehabilitation and surgery, ENT, neurosurgery, and ophthalmology.
When Dr. Lillian Lee took over as executive director in 1986, she made it one of her priorities to ensure that all patients--rich or poor--would be treated and given the best possible care by specialists.
"I wanted to advocate accessibility of specialty care to Filipino children regardless of their status in life.
Ngayon ke anak ka ng driver o ordinary person, you can have access to a specialist. If you have a brain tumor and you need to be operated on immediately, you can have it at the PCMC. Unlike before when you have to line up at the PGH (Philippine General Hospital)," she says.
The PCMC has extensively served children in its 25 years of existence. It began with 588 admissions in 1981, which reached 9,155 in 1990. Since 2000, the yearly admission has gone up to about 10,000. Outpatients seen and treated have reached 61,471 compared with 45,246 two years ago.
Mortality rate has dropped to four percent from nine percent in 1986, according to Lee.
"It's still going down. Before, patients have nowhere to go to. When they get here, usually it's very late to save them."
Patients served are mainly from the metropolis but PCMC also gets referral from other areas in the country.
Bed capacity is dictated by government subsidy. Lee says the hospital started with a measly Php10-million budget. This year, it was lucky to have been appropriated Php200 million. So from the original 200 beds, it was able to add 12 more beds in the perinatal unit.
Day in and day out, the hospital's 200-plus specialists, nurses, and support services give their best to heal the sick, the hopeless, and the dying. They have also achieved much when it comes to training and research.
From two graduates in 1981, the PCMC has produced 280 general pediatricians, 262 pediatric specialists, including radiologists and pathologists, and 36 pediatric surgeons. Since 1991, 2,843 resident trainees have rotated at the PCMC for subspecialty exposure. Consultant-to-resident ratio is 3:1.
The PCMC had instituted a myriad of fellowship programs, the most recent of which were on pediatric epilepsy, pediatric radiology, and pediatric gynecology.
Lee, former head of the neurology department of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital, says her ultimate dream for PCMC is for it to become a research center. But where and how to get the funds is a big question mark.
"Research requires a lot of funds. I don't know how we are supposed to go about it. It is not a priority of the government so we cannot expect funds to come from the government. So our research ideas have to be attractive enough to draw [donors]," she says.
The hospital takes pride in building the foundation of research among its trainees and contributing remarkable studies to the Philippine Pediatric Society. In 25 years, it has produced 595 researches and scientific papers and 319 case reports, a number of which have received awards and recognition here and abroad. The significant breakthroughs were on dystonia and breast-feeding.
If she were to live again, Lee says she would rather be a geneticist than a neurologist. In fact, she and her group have already started work on X-Linked Dystonia Parkinsonian Syndrome (XDP), an unusual movement disorder afflicting Filipinos. Her next challenge is to discover the genes that cause the disease.
When it comes to inventions, the director is indefatigable. She is retiring soon at the PCMC to focus on her first love--research.
"That's going to be my lifetime work," she says, her face lit up. "Magre-retire na ko dito. Kasi kawawa naman ako pag tatanda ako na pulubi," Lee says jokingly.
And how does she like to be remembered?
"One who did her best.
Ngayon, feeling ko kumpleto na kami. We have accomplished everything. I hope it stays that way. Doctors now don't have to leave for abroad to become specialists. I think they will be fine. It's hard to soar with eagles if you work with turkeys."
ELM
|
