A Rural Surgery Outreach Program was recently launched in March 1, 2023 to May 30, 2023 at the Gubat District Hospital, in the town of Gubat in the Southeastern province of Luzon. The hospital is one of eight District Hospitals in the province without the services of a General Surgeon and Anesthesiologist on a permanent basis. This program is a partnership between the Society of Philippine Surgeons in America (SPSA) and the Philippine College of Surgeon (PCS) Sure Commission. A brainchild of Dr. Hernan M. Reyes, Founding President of SPSA, he developed and initiated this partnership between the two organizations with the goal of providing free care to a community with limited access to surgery, especially among the poor and uninsured segment of the population in the Philippines.

The program was designed to provide the services of a full time General Surgeon and Anesthesiologist for a period of three months. SPSA provided full funding for the services of the General Surgeon and OR supplies to the Hospital; the World Surgical Foundation through its Chairman, Dr. Domingo Alvear, a Past President of SPSA gave the financial support for the anesthesiologist and the PCS-SURE COMMISSION through its Director, Dr. Beda Espineda administered and implemented the program. During this three month period, several patients with diseases of the gallbladder, thyroid, breast, parotid, hernia, hemorrhoid, small bowel, soft tissue tumors and other minor conditions underwent surgical treatment. Some of these patients have been waiting for months and years to have their condition resolved. The three

month pilot program was well received by the community and was so successful, so much so that the SPSA’s Governing Board at it’s most recent meeting approved to support this program for the next five years, expanding it to twice a year at two different venues.

Discussions were initiated over a year ago between Dr. Reyes of SPSA and Drs. Vivencio Jose Villaflor, then Director, PCS SURE COMMISSION and Ramon Inso, PCS Regent in Charge of the Sure Commission, later becoming President of PCS. The Pilot program was approved by the SPSA Governing Board during the Presidency of Dr. Honorio M. Cruz and the PCS Board of Regents under the Presidency of Dr. Ramon Inso. Principal signatories to the Memorandum of Agreement are: Drs. Hernan M. Reyes, MD, Chairman, Council of Past Presidents, SPSA and Maria Conception C. Vesagas, MD, President, PCS.