Photos of project
My trip to the Philippines was pursued on the invitation of my good friend, Dr. Rufi Macagba. Rufi is the president of Health Development International, of which I am the Latin American representative. He recommended I come to the Philippines for a three-week visit. I arrived on the 3rd of May and was graciously met by Rufi at the Manila airport. The Philippines lies at the same latitude (or is longitude) as Guatemala so the weather there is hot and humid. Thankfully, Rufi’s van had a well-functioning airconditioner! Manila is a busy city of approximately 11 million people. We spent a couple of days in Manila and had the opportunity to visit a new hospital there called Medical City. It rivaled any hospital facility that I have seen in the States.
We were invited by the president of the hospital board, an old friend of Rufi’s, to attend the inauguration of their new auditorium. I had an interesting conversation with the present Philippine health minister. It seems the challenges they have there are very similar to what we face here in Guatemala...
We then traveled north to San Fernando, where Lorma Hospital is located. This is the hospital founded in the 1930’s by Rufi’s parents. What was originally a small 20-30 bed facility has become a large multi-specialty referral center. I spent the next couple of weeks getting to know the operational side of this hospital. I had the privilege to meet several times with Bob Kaiser, the hospital administrator. Bob has been working at Lorma for more than 30 years and it just so happens he is married to one of Rufi’s 5 sisters. I was also able to meet and talk with many of the divisional heads of the hospital to find out how they make things so functional in a developing nation not so different than Guatemala. What it comes down to is “SERVICE”. The hospital was founded on Christian principles and continues to function with this focus. So, more than anything, it is the excellent service motivated by Christian concern that has made them so well respected.
We were also able to visit two government hospital facilities, both of which were far superior to anything I have seen in Guatemala. The regional government hospital was especially interesting in that, through an act of congress, it has been set up as a non-profit corporation. For any of you who know anything about healthcare in developing nations, this is truly unique, but I believe it is an excellent model of healthcare delivery for the poor of the world. It is a hybrid of government support and fee for service. I’m not sure such a system exists anywhere else in the developing world.
I had the privilege of attending the annual meeting of the Philippine Christian Hospital Association which took place on the island of Lehte. For those of you who know your history, this is the island to which General Douglas McArthur returned during WWII. So we did a little sight seeing as well!
At the end of my time there, I was also able to attend a planning session for a possible workshop to be presented next year in South Africa. We met with some reps of the World Health Organization. The workshop would seek to help train health management educators in how they can train students using better teaching techniques. The focus is to improve the healthcare management abilities of hospital administrators in developing nations.
My return trip went well, though it has taken me a long time to get back into the rhythm here in Guatemala.
Thank you for all you prayers and support.
Dr. Mike
