A son of PGH

On December 10 last year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo feted government agencies that had proven their capacity to ensure what is called Quality Management Program. Among those recognized were ISO 9001-2000 certified National Kidney and Transplant Institute and ISO 9001-2008 certified Philippine General Hospital.

I was not really surprised to know how far these two government hospitals have gone in terms of quality management. Their respective visionary leadership and energized management have allowed them to provide world-class service at reasonable costs. This is particularly true for PGH where 90 percent of patients are given services for free.

I have been to PGH many times during the past five years, and have personally witnessed the transformation of the hospital to a world-class facility. The charity wards have been transformed through the help of non-government organizations like the Senate Spouses Foundation, Sons and Daughters of PGH and the PGH Medical Foundation. New equipment have been installed, thanks to the support of the President and the Priority Development Assistance Fund channeled there by the senators. Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, initiated the “One senator-One PGH Equipment Project.”

The past six years have brought the PGH into the consciousness of many media writers, including this columnist, more than before, and became good friends of Dr. Carmelo A. Alfiler, PGH Centennial director and UP Centennial professorial chair. Dr. Alfiler has just finished his second term as PGH director, and we hope we shall have cordial relations with his successor too.

As our way of saying thanks for work well done, let me tick off just some of the many accomplishments of the good doctor.

Alfiler, a multi-awarded pediatrician and author, was the hospital’s 18th director. Under his leadership, PGH received many awards, major ones of which are the Reader’s Digest Asia Trusted Brand, the Civil Service Commission’s Presidential Lingkod Bayan Award, the distinction of being the National University Hospital by virtue of Republic Act 9500 (or the UP Charter Law of 2008 designating UP as The National University), and ISO 9001:2008 certification for its quality management systems.

• A wave of modernization and rehabilitation, at least P250 million worth of infrastructure and at least P350 million worth of equipment through programs like the PGMA Fund for modernization and rehabilitation, Adopt-a-Charity ward, Hotelization of the Payblocks, One Senator-One New PGH equipment, Buhayin ang Dietary Building, improved teaching-learning environment, patient safety, occupational safety and health, arts and healing, and operationalization of inherited and previously-idle facilities.

• The Tatak PGH Plus, in cooperation with the Department of Health, NCR’s local government units and the PGH Association of Medical Alumni established a referral networking system with 17 LGU hospitals in NCR with 13 DOH regional medical centers to help improve the delivery and continuity of level-specific patient care.

• While nurturing a culture of service, excellence and leadership, PGH under Dr. Alfiler instituted the culture of quality and patient safety. This, according to PGH staff, is what PGH is known for as it has become more acclaimed as the country’s “crown jewel.”

• Now back to private practice as a pediatrician and who for sure will be asked to do consultancy work, Dr. Alfiler can look back to his accomplishments at this crown jewel with satisfaction.

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On another front, the program during the conferment on Loida Nicolas Lewis as the 6th Eminent Person of The Forum for Family Planning and Development, Inc., showed how far the country has to go to establish a national population program. The Forum speakers had a mix of stories, serious and funny, but all pointing to the same aim for “population quality,” as The Forum president, Ben de Leon, put it.

Washington Z. Sycip, one of the six Eminent Persons, said the country “continues to suffer because those of us who could, didn’t speak out. Those of us who knew more or knew better didn’t make the time to teach. Those of us who could make things happen, allowed others to do it for us and those of us who have the power in our own right, didn’t inspire and empower more people.”

He said the honoree, Loida is “a woman who could not be silenced. Throughout her life, she never doubted herself.”

Loida, a well-known, very successful Filipino businesswoman who lives in New York, gave a homily that had everyone in the audience (including the four other Eminent Persons — former President Fidel V. Ramos, Cesar Virata, Oscar Lopez and Dr. Mercedes Concepcion; and Congressman Edcel Lagman, foremost sponsor of the reproductive health bill) laughing.

Loida said she was at the conferment “because I believe in the beauty and the primacy of love between a man and a woman, the poetry and the mystical symbolism of the physical union between husband and wife.”         

Loida continued, “no one should be in the matrimonial bedroom, not even the holy father, the Pope, when the man and the woman express their love for each other in that most intimate expression of love — their physical union.

“I also believe that the ultimate decision of how many children the couple should have remains between the husband and the wife, because they alone know how best to maintain the harmony and the love they have for one another and their children.

“Therefore, it is imperative that the couple be given the information on how best to plan their family members, whether the means for reproduction be the so-called natural family planning method, or the artificial method.”

On the natural family method, how can that be mandated, she asked, “by men who have never made love to a woman, or who have never lived with a woman as their wife, nor have raised children on a 24-hours-7-days a week basis?”

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My e-mail: [email protected]