"Every month is sight-saving month." While this thought certainly would reside in the minds of all Filipino eye MD's, it is one that perhaps is more immediate for members of a national tertiary referral center like the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). In the PGH flag ceremony hosted by the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (DOVS) last August 26, 2014, the oath of the public servant was, as per protocol, recited. In it are the words: "Katungkulan ko ang maglingkod nang buong katapatan at kahusayan at makatulong sa katatagan at kaunlaran ng aking bayan". Service and learning are therefore unambiguous duties freely undertaken by the staff of the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences (DOVS) of the PGH. August of 2014, all in all, has come and gone not very much differently from Sight Saving Months past.
This year marks roughly 6 years DOVS has operated within the Sentro Oftalmologico Jose Rizal (SOJR). At this time in our nation's history, with much news and talk of development and prosperity, the SOJR has however not yet attained immunity from challenges and limitations new and perennial. Inclement weather now and then on top of rigorous continued service continues to expose wear and tear of infrastructure and equipment. While the PGH and UP Manila's support to the DOVS and Sentro have been by no means insignificant, resources remain limited, tempering the rates of refurbishment and upgrading of various adjuncts to operations.
All these notwithstanding, however, the perhaps good news from PGH-DOVS is: it remains that with present continuing efforts, every DAY virtually remains to be sight-saving day. Based on figures at hand, year to date, the Sentro has managed to serve more than 30,000 patients in its clinics, and more than 2,000 patients in its operating room complex. 24/7, come storms, blackouts and floods, these numbers continue to rise via emergency department consults and inpatient referrals. On all working days, the general and subspecialty clinics as well as the 5-room operating room remain, in all, fully operational. Contributions, inputs, and active participation to any and all cases remain available - 24/7 also - from the staff of 25 residents, 9 fellows, and 51 consultant staff. As has been for years, majority of these physicians remain "WOC" - without compensation. Thus, while waiting for and at times helping bring about better circumstances, their service continues.
The call of the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology (PAO) this month is to renew efforts on our declared focus on retinopathy of prematurity and other preventable causes of childhood vision impairment for the next three years. The PGH-DOVS's input at this time would be that the relevance of this is clear and unquestionable. With the steadfastness of the PGH Department of Pediatrics, referrals for ROP have been continuous - averaging 5 a week in this month alone. More than 8 cases of avoidable, accidental corneal perforating injuries in children were tended to by the Cornea-External Disease service. More than 5 surgical cases of pediatric cataracts were carried out by the Pediatric Ophthalmology and Motility service.
Preparing resources for all these cases, the impact of another storm - the political one, with regards to the suspension of discretionary funding from Congress - was very much felt. Quite a number of others have been rescheduled due to deficiencies in funding. The value in our times of partners like Philhealth, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, the PGH Medical Foundation and private donors was and continues to be demonstrated - as various permutations of input from them made all the surgeries mentioned possible.
The August of 2014 in particular also came and went as a time of looking forward. The newly-adopted August start of the academic year for the University of the Philippines College of Medicine has taken effect. Clinical clerks and undergrads have now joined the endeavors of service and learning of the PGH interns. As of this time, adjustments of faculty and staff to participate in their training and education have rolled off smoothly. Ahead of the close of the period of application for Residency and Subspecialty Fellowship positions in the DOVS, preparations also were finalized for the annual Basic Course in Ophthalmology, and, Seminar on Ocular Diseases, Ocular Surgery and Complications. Finally, preparations for a forthcoming cataract surgery mission for no less than 25 patients, made possible by the kind, gracious, invaluable Philippine Chi Liam Tong Charity Foundation, have come to their final stages.
The annual Walk for Sight to the Luneta falling on August 31, 2014 therefore was rather fitting. Endeavors culminated in joining colleagues, industry partners and friends who share this work, sometimes in parallel, at other times in unique ways. We at the DOVS-PGH have carried on assured that if by some chance all of these endeavors - especially with many, if not most of them, never written about, photographed, praised - be regarded as heroic, this remains a country with no shortage of heroes. Ours emerges a people with no shortage of men and women one with the spirit, hopes, and vision of the man for whom our center is named, and for whom a monument was raised long ago and again revered on that day.
This year marks roughly 6 years DOVS has operated within the Sentro Oftalmologico Jose Rizal (SOJR). At this time in our nation's history, with much news and talk of development and prosperity, the SOJR has however not yet attained immunity from challenges and limitations new and perennial. Inclement weather now and then on top of rigorous continued service continues to expose wear and tear of infrastructure and equipment. While the PGH and UP Manila's support to the DOVS and Sentro have been by no means insignificant, resources remain limited, tempering the rates of refurbishment and upgrading of various adjuncts to operations.
All these notwithstanding, however, the perhaps good news from PGH-DOVS is: it remains that with present continuing efforts, every DAY virtually remains to be sight-saving day. Based on figures at hand, year to date, the Sentro has managed to serve more than 30,000 patients in its clinics, and more than 2,000 patients in its operating room complex. 24/7, come storms, blackouts and floods, these numbers continue to rise via emergency department consults and inpatient referrals. On all working days, the general and subspecialty clinics as well as the 5-room operating room remain, in all, fully operational. Contributions, inputs, and active participation to any and all cases remain available - 24/7 also - from the staff of 25 residents, 9 fellows, and 51 consultant staff. As has been for years, majority of these physicians remain "WOC" - without compensation. Thus, while waiting for and at times helping bring about better circumstances, their service continues.
The call of the Philippine Academy of Ophthalmology (PAO) this month is to renew efforts on our declared focus on retinopathy of prematurity and other preventable causes of childhood vision impairment for the next three years. The PGH-DOVS's input at this time would be that the relevance of this is clear and unquestionable. With the steadfastness of the PGH Department of Pediatrics, referrals for ROP have been continuous - averaging 5 a week in this month alone. More than 8 cases of avoidable, accidental corneal perforating injuries in children were tended to by the Cornea-External Disease service. More than 5 surgical cases of pediatric cataracts were carried out by the Pediatric Ophthalmology and Motility service.
Preparing resources for all these cases, the impact of another storm - the political one, with regards to the suspension of discretionary funding from Congress - was very much felt. Quite a number of others have been rescheduled due to deficiencies in funding. The value in our times of partners like Philhealth, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, the PGH Medical Foundation and private donors was and continues to be demonstrated - as various permutations of input from them made all the surgeries mentioned possible.
The August of 2014 in particular also came and went as a time of looking forward. The newly-adopted August start of the academic year for the University of the Philippines College of Medicine has taken effect. Clinical clerks and undergrads have now joined the endeavors of service and learning of the PGH interns. As of this time, adjustments of faculty and staff to participate in their training and education have rolled off smoothly. Ahead of the close of the period of application for Residency and Subspecialty Fellowship positions in the DOVS, preparations also were finalized for the annual Basic Course in Ophthalmology, and, Seminar on Ocular Diseases, Ocular Surgery and Complications. Finally, preparations for a forthcoming cataract surgery mission for no less than 25 patients, made possible by the kind, gracious, invaluable Philippine Chi Liam Tong Charity Foundation, have come to their final stages.
The annual Walk for Sight to the Luneta falling on August 31, 2014 therefore was rather fitting. Endeavors culminated in joining colleagues, industry partners and friends who share this work, sometimes in parallel, at other times in unique ways. We at the DOVS-PGH have carried on assured that if by some chance all of these endeavors - especially with many, if not most of them, never written about, photographed, praised - be regarded as heroic, this remains a country with no shortage of heroes. Ours emerges a people with no shortage of men and women one with the spirit, hopes, and vision of the man for whom our center is named, and for whom a monument was raised long ago and again revered on that day.