History 5—third part lecture
Personages Who Contributed to the Development of Medicine in the Philippines,
20th Century
1910—Honoria Acosta –Sison returned with an MD degree from the Women’s Medical
College in Philadelphia. As the first Filipino woman physician, she immediately
joined the obstetrics department of the PGH as assistant resident and taught in the
college. The second was Olivia Salamanca who dedicated herself to fight against
tuberculosis but who herself unfortunately succumbed to the disease.
1912—Maria Paz Mendoza Guazon was one of the women graduates from UP who
became a well-known pathologist, especially with her studies on bangungut, said
to cause the mysterious sudden deaths of solely young, apparently males who die
in their sleep.
Dr. Gregorio Singian was the first president of the Philippine College of Surgery, which
he founded before his death in 1937 and was a professor of Surgery at UST,
renowned as “el mago del bisturie” (wizard of the scalpel).
Dr. Jose Albert chaired the weekly clinical conferences at PGH where he was professor
and head of Pediatrics, as well as director of Scientific Studies and Research, and
continued to author and co-author more than 40 papers, several on infantile
beriberi.
Dr. Fernando Calderon was a recognized authority on obstetrics and gynecology who was
appointed to the concurrent positions of dean of the College of Medicine and
director of PGH, besides being head of Obstetrics.
Dr. Ramon Ongsiako and Victor Sevilla were the leading EENT specialists in private
practice of the time.
Dr. William J. Butler Burke was the first to bring from England a Cambridge
electrocardiograph and the first to practice what was then a very new discipline of
cardiology. In his honor, the Philippine Heart Association established the Burke
Award for budding cardiologists in 1952. He first came to visit in 1903, and,
convinced by his uncle to practice medicine here, stayed and became a well-loved
and respected professor of Medicine at UST.
Dr. Andreas Trepp, a Swiss physician pioneered in the Philippines the Sanatorium
treatment of TB so that he became the head of the Santol Sanatorium, the nucleus
of the Quezon Institute in 1935.
Dr. Jose Tee Han Kee (1880-1943), was a medical doctor from Amoy, China who came
to the Philippines in 1902 and was hired by the Board of Health to do sanitary
work among Chinese residents of Binondo. Having served for 19 years as
municipal physician of the Meisic Health Station, he became director of the
Chinese General Medical Society.
Dr. Candido Africa and his co-workers, Dr. Francisco J. Dy and Dr. Eusebio Y. Garcia of
the UP Institute of Hygiene (that will eventually be the College of Public Health)
undertook the seminal studies in the exo-erythrocytic stage of Plasmodium vivax
malaria, responsible for the relapses and the resistance to quinine.
Dr. Eliodoro Mercado devise a method of injecting chaulmoogra oil to leprosy patients
on 1914.
Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez introduced the novel “histamine test” for diagnosis in 1931 in the
leprosaria of Cebu and Culion.
Dr. Casimiro B. Lara, working with American researcher, Dr. H. W. Wade, published
studies on various chaulmoogra and hydnocarpus esters for treatment.
Dr. Cristobal Manalang published between 1920 and 1936, eighty-two papers on leprosy,
malaria, and various parasitic diseases while Dr. Antonio Ejercito had twenty
papers on malaria alone during the same period.
Dr. Joaquin Maranon published twenty-five papers and a book on the therapy for malaria
using cinchona alkaloids and the propagation of cinchona culture.
Drs. Daniel de la Paz and Antonio G. Sison found “alagaw” (Premna odorata) effective
in treating bronchial asthma.
Dr. Faustino Garcia (*1) won a Gold Prize in 1932 for his studies on Datura cigarettes
for asthma. The Joffel cigarettes of Jose K. Santos, PhD., UP professor of botany,
became popular among asthmatics.
Dr. Antonio G. Sison wrote Historical Glimpses of Opthalmology and Training of a
Surgeon and had various research outputs ranging from cardiology to the various
aspects of internal medicine.
Dr. Alfredo C. Santos, professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, later dean of the UP
College of Pharmacy, isolated and determined the structures of the alkaloids of
“kalimatas” (Phaeanthus ebracteolatus) and “ambal” (Pycnarrhena manillensis).
Dr. Faustino Garcia (*2) subjected to initial pharmacological investigation “kalimata”
fluid extract while in 1953, Drs. Conrado Dayrit, Horacio Estrada and Gerardo de
Leon reported on phaeantharine, its purified alkaloid and discussing that the
strong antihypertensive action of phaeantharine was due to complex, direct and
ganglionic blocking actions.
Dr. Pilar Lim did hr M.S. thesis in Pharmocology on Dr. Santos’ pure alkaloid
pycnamine, the tertiary amine alkaloid of P. manillensis.
Dr. Faustino Garcia (*3) also studied the blood sugar-lowering action of “banaba”
(Lagerstroemia speciosa) on diabetic patients and named its plant insulin-like
principle, plantisul.
Dr. Romulo Guevara’s in vitro set up to study the direct effects of various herbs on the
Ascaris lumbricoides parasite that came to be known, aptly, as “Ascarigram”.
Dr. Pedro T. Lantin won an award in 1933 for the treatment of typhoid fever by partial
exanguination and blood transfusion, at a time when the only other positive
approach to the treatment of typhoid was injection of convalescent serum or
purposeful induction of fever by protein injections (milk) or hydrosalysates,
(“Omnadin”).
Dr. Regino Navarro, clinical pathologist, was at this time, developing serum tests for
Bilirubin I and II (unconjugated or “indirect”, and conjugated or “direct”), which
later were to displace the van den Bergh test and become the critical tests for
differentiating obstructive from non-obstructive or parenchyma.
Dr. Jacobo Fajardo—pioneer in Public Health work in the Philippines, director of the
Bureau of Health.
Dr. Joaquin Quintos—the first pediatrician in the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery
and discoverer of tiki-tiki, for infantile beriberi.
Dr. Gregorio Singian—founder of the Singian Institute, the first clinic for the treatment
of cancer in the Philippines.
Dr. Benjamin Belmonte—the first in the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery to
perform an open heart operation.
Dr. Arturo B. Rotor—senior discoverer of the Rotor-Manahan-Florentin Syndrome (codiscoverers are Drs. Lourdes A. Manahan and Angel A. Florentin).
Rotor syndrome is a type of liver disease.
Pharmacists Manuel Zamora and Primitivo Arambulo’s tiki-tiki preparations became
household names. Tiki-tiki extracts, as cure for beriberi became popular due to
Drs. Joaquin Quintos and Manuel S. Guerrero of UST and as the result in the
effort of the Chamberlain of the Army Board for the Study of Tropical Diseases.
“Beriberi, known as taon, was a leading cause of infant mortality in Asia and the
Philippines. The Dutch scientists, Eijkman and Grijno, had shown that beriberi is
a food-deficiency disease afflicting people whose staple food is over-milled or
polished rice. Much later, in 1911, Funk isolated the active principle from rice
polishing, and in 1936, Robert Williams identified the thiamine chemical
structure. When the Philippine Islands Medical Association heard about these
reports made at a tropical medicine congress and learned that beriberi was caused
by the use of polished rice, legislation for a return to unpolished rice was
recommended. Upon the initiative of Dr. Jose Albert, then head of the Pediatrics
of the UP College of Medicine, the first autopsy of infantile beriberi was
performed.
Doctors from Vienna
Five Austrian Jews who wanted to escape Hitler in 1938 were convinced by Dr.
Jose Albert to come to the Philippines instead to teach in the College of Medicine. Hans
Kaunitz, a pupil of liver-specialist Eppinger, joined the Department of Medicine; Eugene
Stransky, a hematologist, the Department of Pediatrics; Robert Willheim, a cancer
biochemist, the Cancer Institute; Dr. Friedman, a clinical neurologist, the Department of
Medicine, and Dr. Fraenkel, an educator, taught a very interesting History of Medicine,
illustrated by slides of all the historical places and personages of medicine in Europe and
the US. This team of European physicians contributed immeasurably to teaching and
research.
Other Achievers in Medicine
Dr. Elena B. Ines-Cuyegkeng—trained pharmacologist from the University of
Michigan; professor of Pharmacology, dean, and later vice president for
Academic Affairs of UERMMC; executive director, Association of
Philippine Medical Colleges (APMC).
Dr. Julita Ramoso-Jalbuena—professor and chair, Department of Obstetrics and
Gynecology, UP-PGH; specialized in extraperitoneal caesarean and
introduced the Pfannenstiel incision in caesarian section; established blood
bank for PGH Obstetrics; the only obstetrician so far to have received the
top three awards of the Philippine OB-Gyn Society, namely: the Ramon
Lopez Memorial Award in 1980, Baldomero Roxas Memorial Lecture
Award in 1984 and Honoria Acosta-Sison Research Award in 1992.
1978—Dr. Juan S. Salcedo, Jr.—awarded for his contributions in nutrition, public
health and science policy. His rice-enrichment program is credited to have
wiped out beriberi in the Philippines.
1979—Dr. Gloria T. Aragon—first woman to be appointed dean of the UP
College of Medicine on that year and director of Philippine General
Hospital in 1979; magna cum laude graduate of UP who rose to be
professor and chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of
UP-PGH.
1980—Dr. Fe del Mundo—pediatrician and medical stateswoman; founder of the
Children’s Memorial Hospital in 1957 which became the Children’s
Medical Center Philippines in 1963; 1977 Ramon Magsaysay Award for
Public Service by a Private Citizen; 1996 Elizabeth Blackwell Award for
Outstanding Service to Mankind, and the International Congress of
Pediatrics Award as the Most Outstanding Pediatrician and Humanitarian.
1981—Dr, Geminiano T. de Ocampo—ophthalmologist, pioneer in corneal
transplantation.
1985—Dr. Hilario D. G. Lara—Public Health, founder and first director of the
Institute of Hygiene (now College of Public Health).
1989—Dr. Paulo C. Campos—internist, endocrinologist (Nuclear Medicine),
National Academy of Science and Technology president (1978-1989);
founder and chairman, Medical Center Manila; professor and head,
Department of Medicine, UP-CM.
1989—Dr. Ernesto O. Domingo, academician, Science and Technology Award
recipient; Chancellor of UP Manila (1991-1994); former chair of
Medicine, UP-PGH; member, Board of Regents, UP; team leader of the
Liver Study Group that characterized the extent and pathology in Filipinos
of the hepatitides, particularly Hepatitis A, B, and C. The clinical and
epidemiological studies of his team have contributed to the development
of a policy and control of Hepatitis B, and diagnostic kit.
1991—Dr. Perla Dizon Santos-Ocampo, academician, Science and Technology
Award recipient; Chancellor, UP-Manila 1994-1999; internationally
renowned pediatrician; awarded for her studies on diarrhea and its
management with Oral Rehydration Therapy; president, Philippine
Pediatric Society; president, 17th International Congress of Pediatrics of
the International Society of Pediatrics; elected president of NAST in 1999,
succeeding Dr. Conrado S. Dayrit.
1997—Dr. Alfredo R. Bengzon, Ramon Magsaysay Award recipient; neurologist;
secretary of Health, 1986-1992; author of the Generics Law and the
National Drug Policy; president, Medical City.
Patriotic Doctors
Dr. Remberto (Bobby) de la Paz—a 1976 graduate of the UPCM, had been
working in Samar for four years after graduation with his wife, Dr. Sylvia
Ciocon-de la Paz and was gunned down on April 1982 while in his clinic
in Catbalogan by an unknown assailant who, many local residents believe,
had acted under orders of the provincial military authorities. His murder
was never solved; one among the many during the Marcos administration.
He became a symbol of the selfless idealism of a young doctor in the
service of his country.
Dr. Johnny Escandor—another UPCM graduate was also serving in the povertyridden areas of the Philippines when, a lot of peoples believe, was killed
by members of the military and had his body desecrated (his socks and
brief was stuffed on his cranium); another victim of the Marcos reign of
terror.
Surgical Advances
August 4, 1988—First successful liver transplant performed
September 18, 1990—A double liver and kidney transplant was performed
March 3, 1998—First simultaneous kidney and pancreas was performed. The
pancreas recipient lived for four years and died of a coronary heart
disease. These were performed at the National Kidney and Transplant
Institute by a transplanting team headed by Dr. Enrique Ona.
May 28, 1994—Dr. Jorge Garcia performed the first heart transplantation at the
Makati Heart Institute, Makati Medical Center. Unfortunately, the patient
did not survive long after due to infection.
April 12, 1996—Professor Chao Tony Chan from Chang Gung Medical Center in
Kaohsiung, Taiwan, together with the team of Dr. Enrique Ona at the
National Kidney and Transplant Institute, performed the first partial liver
transplant from a mother to her 15-month-old child with biliary atresia.
Unfortunately, the baby succumbed to pulmonary infection 75 days
postoperatively.
Landmarks in World Medical History
. 1415-1564: Andreas Vesalius—anatomist—published in 1534 his pioneering
anatomical text “The Fabric of Human Body” (De Humani Corporis Fabrica). History of
Anatomy is divided into Pre-Vesalian, Vesalian and Post-Vesalian Periods.
. 1590: Johannes Janssen & son Zacharias—invented microscope.
. 1628: William Harvey—published his treatise describing the circulation of the blood.
(Excercutatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus); ranks with the
Fabrica of Vesalius as a milestone in the progress of medicine.
. 1639: Augustinian monk Calancha—recorded the Peruvian use of cinchona bark
(whose chief alkaloid is quinine) as effective for fevers and tertian (malaria) (popular
version—bank used—are Countess Anna de Chinichon)introduction of Chinchona
bark in Spainplant named after her.
. 1661:Marcelo Malpighi—(Bologna)—described the capillary anastomosis between
small arteries and veins; that the lungs are composed of numerous vesicles in which the
bronchioles end.
. 1664: Thomas Willis—published “Anatomy of the Brain”; known for “Circle of Willis
of cerebral arteries.
. 1665: Thomas Sydenham (1664-1689)—published his first work on fevers; this was
followed by many excellent descriptions of diseases. At his death in 1689, universities
recognized him as the outstanding clinician of the 17th Century.
. 1674: Thomas Willis—noted that the urine of diabetics are wonderfully sweet.
. 1673-1723: Anton Ven Leeuwenhoek—“Father of Protozoology &Bacteriology; using
his microscope, demonstrated, made drawings of motile bacillus, micrococci, spirochete;
RBC erroneously thought by Malpighi to be fat globules; described spermatozoa; the
striped characteristics of skeletal muscles; structure of crystalline lens.
. 1753: James Lind (1716-1794)—recommended lemon juice for scurvy; British
followed for 41 years and later, scurvy disappeared from the navy.
. Giovanni Morgagni (1682-1770)—“Father of Pathology”; “The Seats and Causes of
Diseases Investigated by Anatomy”—important medical literature investigated diseases
from symptoms to the organ, demonstrated the diseases in the organs—“start of modern
medicine”—according to Dr. Rudolf Virchow.
. 1772: William Heberden (1710-1801)—first clear description of any given angina
pectoris (published after his death).
. 1846: Thomas Morton (1819-1868)—demonstrated the use of ether on general
anesthesia at the Massachusetts General Hospital—October 16, 1846.
. 1851: Herman von Helmhotz (1821-1894)—invented opthalmoscope and
opthalmometer; identified the three color sensations: red, green and blue; mathematically
proved the conservation of energy.
. 1849-1855: Thomas Addison (1793-1860)—described Addison’s Disease—of adrenal
glands and Addisonian or pernicious anemia.
. 1697-1853: Robert Graves (Dublin)—perfect clinician, teacher, described
hyperthyroidism in women (Graves’ Disease).
. 1804-1878: William Stokes (Dublin)—earliest account for paroxysmal tachycardia;
Cheyne-Stokes Respiration and Stokes-Adams Disease (heart block).
. 1862: Austin Flint (1812-1886)—“American Laenace”; described “Austin Flint
Murmur”—the characteristic diastolic murmur at the apex in aortic regurgitation without
presystolic accentuation or snapping first sound.
. 1821-1902: Rudolf Virchow—the cell is the center or all pathologies; physician
creator of modern science of pathology; author of cellular pathology—great books in
Medicine; his book on tumors became model for all later works on the subject.
. 1813-1878: Claude Bernard—great physiologist—demonstrated the role of pancreatic
juice in digestion; glycogenetic function of the liver; vasomotor mechanism of
sympathetic and parasympathetics; mechanism of Carbon monoxide poisoning and of the
use of curare for malaria.
. 1822-1895: Louis Pasteur
a) Proved that bacteria caused fermentation and that they came from air and not
spontaneously generated (which suggested antiseptics to Lister).
b) Proved that heating to 50-60 degrees Celsius for a short time can prevent
spoilage of wine and beer—“pasteurization”.
c) Confirmed Jenner’s “vaccination” findings that pretreatment which an
attenuated organism can protect from subsequent infection with the active
form of that organism—in chicken cholera, in sheep anthrax, and in rabies.
Late in 1885, a boy bitten by a rabid dog was cured by daily injection of
increasingly less attenuated rabid spinal cord. The process, he proved that the
rabies virus infected the CNS (central nervous system) of dogs and rabbits,
which when attenuated by desiccation, could be used for vaccination. First to
isolate Staphilococci and Streptococci.
. 1865: Joseph Lister (1827-1921)—practice of the use of antiseptics in surgery
Carbolic Acid spray in compound fracture.
. 1842-1910: Robert Koch
a) Inaugurated the era of bacteriological research by developing culture media to
grow pure cultures of organism and methods of fixing and drying bacterial
films on cover slips and then staining and photographing them for study.
Thus, he demonstrated the Anthrax vacilli acid spores; the change from bacilli
to spores and back to bacilli and the infectiousness of blood-containing spores
(1876);
1) Discovered tubercle bacilli from tuberculous sputum (1882);
2) Discovered the cholera vibrio and proved the transformation of cholera
by water and food;
3) Discovered tuberculin (1890)—which unfortunately failed as TB cure.
b) Formulated the “Koch postulates” to prove that a microorganism is the cause
of a disease:
1) The microorganism can be demonstrable in every case of the disease;
2) That it must be cultivated on pure culture’
3) Inoculation of the culture must produce the disease in susceptible
animals;
4) It must be recovered from the animals and grown in pure culture
(Nobel Prize 1905).
. 1844-1922: Sir Patrick Manson—discovered the malarial parasite in the blood of
malarial patient (Nobel Prize 1907).
. 1857-1932: Sir Ronald Ross—discovered malaria in the stomach of Anopheles
mosquito.
. 1881: Carlos Findlay—showed that the mosquito Stegomya fasciata (now Aedes
egypti) was the transmitter of the yellow fever. James Carral had himself bitten by an
infected Stegomya, developed yellow fever and recovered; Jesse Lazcar accidentally
bitten, developed yellow fever and died.
. 1900: Major Walter Reed (1851-1902) and Colonel William Gorgas (1854-1920)—
conquered yellow fever in Havana by mosquito extermination.
. 1887: Augustus D. Waller, physiologist, recorded the first human electrocardiogram
using capillary electrometer.
. 1895: William Konrad Roentgen (1845-1923)—discoverer of X-ray.
. 1895: Pierre and Marie Curie (1867-1934)—discoverers of radioactivity which they
reported to the Academe des Sciences on July 18, 1898 (Nobel Prize in Physics with
Henri Becquerel. Pierre Curie died from a tragic accident soon after Marie Curie won the
Nobel Prize in 1911 for isolating radium.
. 1856-1939: Sigmund Freud—discoverer of the subconscious and its influence on the
conscious, the splitting of the mind by intrapsychic conflicts and the Oedipus complex or
infantile sexuality.
. 1883-1902: James Mackenzie—established the fundamental differences in venous
types of cardiac irregularities—a milestone in the history of heart disease with the
invention of polygraph to record arterial and venous pulses.
. 1901: Karl Landsteiner—showed that there are at least three types of human blood—
A, B, and O.
. 1902: William Einthoven—built a string Galvanometer to become the first practical
electrocardiograph (Nobel Prize 1924).
. 1906: Celois Alzheimer—identified a brain degeneration causing progressive loss of
intellectual function (Alzheimer’s Disease).
. 1906-1910: Harvey Cushing (1869-1939)—neurosurgeon of the century; described the
relationship between the pituitary tumor and sexual infantilism (Cushing Disease).
. 1906-1932: Charles Scott Sherrington (1857-1952)—neurophysiologist; elucidated
the functions of the brain and spinal cord—afferent enervations of striated muscles;
discoverer of the proprioceptive system; decelerate rigidity; significance of symptoms in
reflex activity (Nobel Prize 1932 with Henry Dale).
. 1908: Paul Ehrlich—discoverer of the anti-pathogenic Arsphenamine (Salvarsan or
606) against the pathogen Trephonema pallida.
. 1912: James Herrick—published his classical description of acute myocardial
infarction.
. 1921: Otto Loewi (1873-)—proved the chemical transmission of nerve impulses—that
the substance released by sympathetic nerves in the frog heart was adrenaline, which was
rapidly destroyed by cholinesterase (Nobel Prize 1936).
. 1929: Alexander Fleming (Nobel Prize with Howard Florey)—discovered Penicillium
notatum mold which restricted a substance (he and Ernest Chain called it “penicillin”)
which killed Staphylococci, Streptococci, Pneumococci in culture but not in “Gramnegative bacteria.
. 1904-1937: Otto Warbury (1883-)—founder of the science of modern biochemistry
and physiology; discovered the iron-containing respiratory enzyme (of Warbury);
discovered the yellow enzymes; discovered nicotinamide as the active group of hydrogen
transferring enzymes; invented biochemical manometry (Warbury apparatus) (Nobel
Prize 1971).
. 1937: Adolf Krebs—discoverer of the Tricarboxylic Cycle (Kreb’s cycle)—a major
pathway for the oxidation of Carbon compounds (Nobel Prize 1953).
. 1938: Robert Gros—credited with the ligation of patent ductus arteriosus.
. 1944: Alfred Blalock and Helen Taussig—developed the surgical connection for
tetralogy of Fallot “blue baby.”
. 1950-1954: Hans Selye—developed the concept of stress and the role of ACTH and
adrenal steroids in the “stress-response.”
. 1953: James Watson and Francis Crick—described the “double helix” form of
DNA—two strands composed of sugar deoxyribose alternating with phosphate, round
about each other in the shape of two-fold spiral; between the nucleobases,, Adenine (A),
Thumine (T), Cytosine (C), and Guanine (G) projecting towards the middle like the rungs
of a ladder, when A is always paired with T, and C with G, the transmission of genetic
information was accomplished by an unraveling of strands of the double helix and their
separation from each other, so that each one could serve as a stencil to exact duplication
(replication) of hereditary information.
Discoverers of Pathogens and Anti-Pathogens
Timeline
1871—Armauer Hansen—Pathogen: Bacillus leprae
1879—Albert Neisser—Gonococcus (Gonorrhea pathogen)
1880—Karl Joseph Eberth—Salmonella typhosa
1880—Charles Laveran –Malarial parasite in blood
1883—Robert Koch—Koch-Weeks bacillus
1883—Freidrich Fahleisen—Streptococcus of erysipelas
1884—Albert Fraenkel—Pneumococcus as the cause of pneumonia
1884—Arthur Nikolaier—Clostridium tetani
1884—Theodore Escherich—Escherichia coli (causes loose-bowel movement)
1890—Robert Koch--*Tuberculin (Anti-Pathogenic treatment)
1892—Ernest von Behring--*Diptheria and Tetanus anti-toxins (Nobel Prize
1901)
1906—August von Wasserman--*Wasserman test for syphilis
1908—Paul Ehrlich--*Arspheramine (Salvarson or 606)
1985—Luc Montagnier & Robert Gallo—Human Immunodeficiency Virus
(HIV).
*Anti-Malarials
1639—Native use—Quinine—from bush of Chinchona officinalis growing wild
in South America.
1934—German patents—Quinacrine (Atabrine), also used in giardiasis, talmiasis,
enterobiasis.
1939—German patents—Chloroquine, also used in extra-intestinal amoebiasis
*Anti-TB
1924—Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin—BCG vaccine from living avirulent
bovine tubercle bacilli
1944—Selman Waksman—Streptomycin from culture of Streptococcus griseus
active against TB (Nobel Prize 1952)
1944—E. Merck (1936), Merck (1939)
1954—American Cyanamid—Pyrazinamide
1958—Distillers Co., Ltd.—Isoniazide
1960—Sensi (1967 Lepelit)—Rifamycins
1961—Wilkimson—Ethambutol
*Sulfonamides
1932—Gerhard Domagk (Nobel Prize 1945)—discovered antibacterial action of
red dye, Prontosil
1935—Trefouel, Nitti, Bovet—Sulfanilamide—the active portion of Prontosil
*Penicillins, Cephalosporins
1929—Alexander Fleming (Nobel Prize 1945) with Howard Florey—discovered
Penicillium notatum mold which secreted a substance (which he and Ernst
Chain named “penicillin”) which killed Staphilococci, Streptococci,
Pneumococci in culture but not the gram negative bacteria
1940—Howard Florey & Ernest Chain (Nobel Prize 1945 with Alexander
Fleming)—Juice of P. notatum (obtained from Fleming), grown on
brewer’s yeast and demonstrated effective in infections in animals; cured
patients with Staphylococcal and Streptococcal infections.
*Penicillin G.V.—narrow spectrum; Ampicillin, Amocycillin—broad spectrum
*They helped develop larger amounts for treating seriously ill patients even recovering
the drug at first from the urine of patients given the drug.
*1948 Brotzu—Anti-Pseudomonal Penicillins, Cephalosporins first extracted from C.
acremonium, isolated from sea water near sewer outlet off Sardinian coast.
*Derivatives and Congeners
First generation
Second generation—most potent against gram negative microorganism
Third generation—anti-pseudomonal
*Broad-Spectrum Antibiotics
1947—Burkholder, Bantz (1948)—Chlorampenicol C from Streptomyceae
Venezuelae
1950—Oxytetracyclenes from S. aureofaciens
1952—Tetracyclene—semi-synthetic
1960—Doxycyclene—semi-synthetic
*Aminoglycosides
1943—Selman Waksman—Streptomycin from S. griseus
1949—Selman Waksman—Neomycin from S. fradial
*Macrolide Antibiotics
1952—MacGuire—Erythromycin C from S. erythrous from Philippine soil
*Antifungal
1936—Oxford, et. al.—Griseofulvin from Penicillin
*Anti-Viral Agent
1964—Amantadine—synthetic drug inhibits influenza A virus
Acyclovir for Herpes simplex
Type II Retroviral drugs
*Poliomyelitis Vaccines
1954—Jonas Edward Salk—vaccine against paralytic polio
1955—Albert Bruce Sabin—oral polio vaccine
Promulgations on Health Care and Other Issues and Developments
1950—under Executive Order (EO) No. 94, President Manuel A. Roxas established the
Institute of Nutrition (IN). In 1951, President Elpidio Quirino transferred it to the
Department of Health. In 1958, with the organization of the National Science
Development Board, President Carlos P. Garcia transferred the IN to NSDB’s
National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) and renamed Food and
Nutrition Research Center (FNRC). Finally in 1975, with the expansion of NSDB
into the National Science and Technology Authority (NSTA), FNRC became the
full-pledged Institute, the FNRI.
June 1963—Through RA 3720, Bureau of Food and Drugs Administration (BFAD) was
established.
Republic Act (RA) No. 6111—Medical Care Program of the Philippines was
implemented intending to provide medical care benefits to all residents of the
country and provide the people with the means to pay for their own medical care.
As implemented in the program, it included only the employed sector and their
dependents and provided only 20 to 30% of the hospitalization expenses of its
members. One of its principal defects that led to over utilization was the lack the
lack of outpatient coverage. This RA, passed during the early years of Marcos
Martial Law period would later be replaced by the Philippine Health Insurance of
1995 (National Health Insurance Act of 1995 replacing the National Health
Insurance Act of 1969).
PMA Official Professional Fee Guideline of 1976—the response to the clamor for
transparency and a rationalization of doctor’s fees; the result of the report of the
committee on professional fee guidelines for doctors (committee headed by Dr.
Artemio Cabrera of Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital).
November 9, 1971—The Rehabilitation Center for Drug Addiction was set up in Taguig,,
Metro Manila.
November 14, 1972—The Dangerous Drugs Board was created to deal with cases of drug
addiction and abuse. Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration (PDEA) is
presently given the police power to arrest, impound, sequester any prohibited drug
activites in the country.
1973—In the area of alternative medicine, acupuncture became widely publicized and
practiced. Dr. Helen Abundo, a cardiologist, Dr. Wilhelmina K. Ochoa, an
internist and Dr. Lilia Palanca were among the leading exponents. This led to the
organization of the an association of acupuncturists and official recognition by the
Department of Health.
February 14, 1975—establishment of the Philippine Heart Center of the Philippines with
Dr. Avelino Aventura, Army cardiac surgeon, as director.
1979—Lungsod ng Kabataan (now the Philippine Children’s Medical Center) was put up
in Quezon City.
1983—The National Kidney Center and Transplant Institute was built to be followed by
the Lung Center of the Philippines, also in Quezon City.
April 13, 1987—through Executive Order (E.O.) No. 119; the Ministry of Health became
the Department of Health with Dr. Alfredo R. A. Bengzon as the first secretary.
1988—RA 6675—otherwise known as the Generics Act/Law of 1988 was passed but a
rapidly increasing generics drug sector has developed with over 200 drug
manufacturers and importers, mostly small, allowed by the BFAD to enter this
burgeoning market. With an undermined regulatory agency, the situation is
difficult to control and police and is now posing a great threat to the assurance of
quality in the pharmaceutical and medical sector of the country, to the extent that,
despite government’s strong policy to “go generics” to lower cost, many
physicians refuse, under threat of arrest , to prescribe generics. It is a known fact
that giant multinational drug companies finance the overseas travels of doctors
(some are connected to UP-PGH) as long as these doctors continue to prescribe
expensive and branded drugs even if cheaper, alternative drugs are available. It
was only in 1999 that Generic Pharmacies began to offer cheaper drugs especially
to the poor sectors of Philippine society.
October 10, 1991—RA 7160, also known as the Local Government Code, the
Department of Health devolved some of its powers—among which was the
supervision of health services in the provincial, city and municipal levels—to the
local government units.
1995—Through Republic Act (R.A.) No. 7875, the Medicare was superseded by the
National Health Insurance Act while the Philippine Medical Care Commission
was replaced by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Phil Health).
RA 7305—Magna Carta for Public Health Workers
Policies that deal with Family Planning
July 22, 1974—National Research Act resulting in a 1979 Belmont Report dealing with:
1) Respect for autonomy of a person
2) Beneficiaries
3) Justice
RA 6365—Created Population Commission
PD No. 79—also known as the Reproductive Health Act of 2004
Senate Bills No. 1281, 1816—known as Family Life Education Act
House Bill No. 1546—on Reproductive Health, sponsored by Congressman Edcel
Lagman dealing with: Reproductive Right, Reproductive Health, Reproductive
Health Care, Male Involvement and Civil Society.
Cong. Lagman claims that:
1) It is not anti-life
2) Does not interfere with family life
3) Does not legalize abortion
4) Contraceptives do not have life-threatening side effects
5) The bill will not promote contraceptive mentality
6) The bill does not impose a two-child policy
7) Sex education will not spawn a generation of sex maniacs/breed a culture of
promiscuity
8) Does not claim that family planning is the panacea of poverty
9) Family planning will not lead to demographic winter
10) Humanae vitae is not an infallible doctrine
Those who oppose claim that:
1) It is a flawed premise
2) It is unnecessary
3) Unconstitutional
4) Oppressive of religious belief
5) Destructive of public morals
What is left out in the deliberation is the opinion/voice of those directly
affected by the Reproductive Health Bill, the child-bearing women.