Doctors giving back drive UPMASA’s medical outreach

The University of the Philippines Medical Alumni Society in America (UPMASA) and Ugnayan ng Pahinungód, with support from the Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc. and Antique’s Provincial Health Office, served 2,017 patients free of charge during the UP volunteer groups’ latest medical, dental and surgical mission in Antique on 16 to 19 February.

United States-based alumni from UP’s College of Medicine together with volunteer doctors from other local universities and in the US performed 53 major surgeries, 175 minor operations, 637 tooth extractions and 378 other dental procedures at the EBJ Gymnasium, Binirayan Sports Complex and at the Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital, both in San Jose de Buenavista.

The medical cases are broken down to 882 internal medicine, 371 pediatric, 55 obstetrics-gynecology and 697 ophthalmology. A total 773 patients were given eyeglasses.

The UPMASA and Pahinungod medical and dental mission is conducted annually. Last year, 130 volunteer doctors served 2,623 patients in Borongan, Eastern Samar.

A video about the UPMASA posted on UP’s Facebook page highlighted the growth of the charity movement with one of its pioneers, Dr. Anita O. Jongco, recalling they were just 10 when they began in 1995, serving patients in Cavite.

The society now has 17 chapters in the US and it is open to volunteers from other local universities to beef up every outreach project as the number of patients they serve is growing bigger.

The surgeries performed by the UPMASA and Pahinungod doctors are the major kinds that poor patients could not afford, including removal of cancer and goiter tumors, as well as hysterectomies and mastectomies. They also fix cleft lips of babies.

Meanwhile, plastic and hand surgeon Dr. Emmanuel Lat, past president of UPMASA, and his wife Zenda, a family physician, are calling on young doctors to join their medical missions to sustain the charity work. In the video, Dr. Zenda Lat says many of the current volunteers are already old and may not continue serving patients.

“My hope is more young doctors will join us because 90 percent of us are actually getting old or advanced age. And then we don’t have people taking over,” said Zenda Lat.

Orthopedic doctor Roberto U. Velaco, a UPMASA volunteer since 1998, said it would be his last year doing medical mission.

“We are open to anyone who wants to join us,” said Jongco.

UPMASA volunteers stand out because of their energy and sincerity in treating numerous patients with dignity. Knowing that for many patients, the medical mission may be the only opportunity they can consult a physician, it fuels the urgency and dedication of every volunteer.

Many of the UPMASA volunteers trained in the Philippines before building careers abroad. Their return, even if temporary, is rooted in gratitude — a desire to repay the nation that shaped them. It is about professionals who, despite busy lives and successful careers abroad, choose to return to where they are needed most.