CARMELO A. ALFILER, MD Director Philippine General Hospital

Mabuhay from PGH, the Philippines' 100-year old national tertiary referral center and teaching hospital of UP Manila (The Health Sciences Center) that includes the UP College of Medicine, UP College of Nursing and allied paramedical colleges. It is the largest government hospital administered by the UP System (not by the Department of Health); occupies 10 hectares of prime Manila real estate, 45 buildings, and 125,000 square meters of floor area; consists of 19 clinical departments distributed in the in- and outpatient sections, 1500 patient beds (1000 charity, 500 pay and special units); and includes modernized and upgraded emergency room and radiodiagnostic complexes, and the National Eye Referral Center (Sentro Oftalmologico Jose Rizal) and the soon-to-open Medical Arts Building, among many service facilities. 

            Since its creation by Philippine Commission Act 1688 on August 17, 1907 and subsequent opening to the public on September 1, 1910 with 300 beds, PGH stood by its noble purpose of providing quality health care to the Filipino people especially to the underserved. From 1985 to 1991, PGH underwent a major renovation and expansion program, necessitating a dramatic increase in manpower, hospital services and equipment. Today, PGH boasts of about 4000 medical and non-medical employees, a wide array of general and subspecialty services, and complete support programs and facilities that enable it to render comprehensive quality care to both healthy and sick Filipinos, in particular the indigent and marginalized.

            Our shared vision for 2004-2009 says it all: “We are a community of first-rate, highly-energized, socially-responsible healthcare professionals and workers collectively enhancing the national and international image of UP-PGH as the national university hospital showcasing excellence and leadership in client service, training, research and governance”. We go by the battlecry “Tatak PGH Plus Plus” and the simple objectives of (1) delivering what is core in our abovecited four areas of engagement, (2) raising the bar, and (3) setting and achieving leadership targets. We are guided by core values/initiatives which are expressed as slogans: excellence, leadership, basic courtesy and professionalism in the workplace (“magaling na, magalang pa”, “bagong anyo”), along with thriftiness, resourcefulness and loyalty (“iwas waldas”, “dagdag kita”, “magmalasakit, PGH muna”).

As we celebrate our Centennial Year this 2007, we hope to make a big difference for PGH and benchmark it with the best national university hospitals in Asia and the world. On our shoulders fall the daunting tasks of modernizing, upgrading, rehabilitating and reinventing PGH. This includes massive rehabilitation of existing physical plant, a multi-storey building housing new facilities, top-of-the-line hospital equipment, total quality assurance and a markedly improved human resource management program. With the wellspring of support from the National Government, the university, our philanthropic pool of governmental, non-governmental and private groups and individuals here and abroad, and most of all the Filipino public, PGH will be able to celebrate a meaningful and momentous centenary.

            On to “100 Years of Excellence and Leadership in Quality Healthcare for the Filipino

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