UP-PGH hosts ultrasound workshop

MANILA, Philippines - The University of the Philippines — Philippine General Hospital recently conducted the first Ultrasound Guided Peripheral Nerve Block Workshop from Nov. 11 to 14. This was a joint project of the PGH Department of Anesthesiology in collaboration with the Alexandra Hospital of Singapore-Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care. 

The activity consisted of a series of lectures and hands-on demonstration on the use of Ultrasound in visualizing peripheral nerves on live models. The highlight of the workshop was the induction of peripheral nerve blocks under ultrasound guidance to several orthopaedic patients of the hospital who subsequently underwent upper and lower extremity surgeries on the last day at the PGH operating room.

The specialists who conducted the workshop were composed of a team of doctors from Alexandra Hospital of Singapore namely, Doctors Joselo Macachor who hails from Cebu, Naville Chia, David Tan, Uma Iyer Shridhar and Bin Wern Hsien. The only local faculty in the workshop was Dr. Penafrancia Catangui Cano, the Section Chief of Orthopedic Anesthesia of the Philippine General Hospital. She was also the program coordinator for this pioneer activity.

This collaboration between Alexandra Hospital of Singapore and the Philippine General Hospital was the brainchild of Dr. Roland Capito, acting chairman of the PGH Department of Anesthesiology, and of Associate Professor Koh Kwong Fah, the Head of the Alexandra Hospital of Singapore Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care.

At the end of the workshop, congratulatory messages as well as requests for more workshops in the future were received by the organizing committee. With the support of the hospital director, Dr. Carmelo Alfiler, PGH will soon acquire a new GE Ultrasound Machine solely for the Department of Anesthesiology. The acquisition of this new technology will enhance the delivery of anesthesia care and services to the indigent patients of the PGH.