Philippine Children's Medical Center

The training program was started in 1981 as a two-year fellowship program, duly accredited by the Accreditation Board of the Philippine Society of Pediatric Surgeons and the Philippine College of Surgeons.

The main objective of the program during the early years was to train pediatric surgeons that can be dispersed in the provinces or regions where their expertise are badly needed. In view of this, qualified applicants coming from different regions or cities of the country were given priority over those from Metro Manila. At this time, the problem of the lack of expertise in pediatric surgery in most provinces has been adequately addressed. Hence, the program now gives equal opportunity for acceptance to all and qualified applicants. The program initially accepted and graduated one fellow a year. After the EDSA revolution, however, the number of patient load tremendously increased, pushing the number of training fellows to be increased to two per year.

There was a changing of hands in the Chairmanship of the Department, from Dr. Pedro M. Reyes Jr. (1980- 1986). Graduating 2 fellows a year, the PCMC has produced the greatest number of pediatric surgeons under the chairmanship of Dr. Reyes. By 1985, the following graduated from the program: Drs. Manuel Cajigal, Reynaldo Moreno, Joseph Alesna, Florentino Merin, Alfredo Igama, Renato Bernaldes and Homer Segismundo.

After the EDSA revolution in 1986, Dr. Willie N. Lagdameo assumed the position of Head of the Department of Pediatric Surgery. Within 3 1/2 years, up to 1989, the training program was further streamlined, along didactic activities and post-graduate courses. The graduates include: Drs. Beda Espineda, Noel Binayas, Franco Gomez, Roberto Lozada, Rene Rafols and Maribel Du. Dr. Alfredo C. Acosta succeeded as PCMC Pediatric Surgery Department Head in 1990, with Drs. Reginald V. Hao, Don Enrico Garcia, Jaime Tiopianco, Jose Matilac, Jr., Dexter Aison, Cesar Bernabe and Delfin Cuajunco finishing the training program. In 1994, Dr. Leonardo L. Cua assumed the chairmanship as Drs. Dures Fe Escarro and Omarbasha Lucman graduated from the program.

Guided by the mission/vision of the Department of Pediatric Surgery. The training program was further strengthened to make it more responsive to the needs of the time. The program takes pride in having over 50 graduates since 1982, of which 27 are now Board Certified Pediatric Surgeons and 19 are classified as Board eligible. Majority of the graduates are practicing in the different regions of the country and are also holding sensitive positions either as Chairman of the department or Section heads of the specialty.