Text by Charmaine Lingdas

Photos by Joseph Bautista

UP Manila Chancellor Michael L. Tee discusses with Mr. Takuma Hatano areas for collaboration that UP Manila and Fujita Health University can work on. With them is OILL Director Vivien Fe Fadrilan-Camacho and Mr. Koji Miyashita.

Representatives from Fujita Health University in Japan paid a courtesy call to the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM) on July 1, 2024 to discuss the creation of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to foster joint research, academic exchange, and mutual enhancement of healthcare systems between the two institutions, a significant step towards international collaboration in healthcare and medical education.

The visitors included Mr. Takuma Hatano, former Japanese ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and former President and CEO of Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation, and Koji Miyashita, President and CEO of IPS Inc. and Chairman and CEO of Infinivan Inc. In his statement, Mr. Hatano highlighted the eagerness of Fujita Health University to initiate discussions on collaborative agendas once the MOU is signed, indicating that the partnership aims to address common goals and challenges in healthcare and medical education.

In his response, UPM Chancellor Michael L. Tee expressed strong support for the MOU, citing several key areas of potential collaboration. “Disaster medical care is a crucial area where both our institutions can work together, given our shared experience with natural disasters,” he remarked. He also pointed out opportunities in the management of air ambulance services, reproductive health education, molecular biology, personalized cancer care, and international brain center.

The Chancellor also emphasized the potential in air ambulance management. “We are going to have a helipad in UP Manila soon. How to manage the transport of patients from one area using air ambulance to another is also something that we can work on together.” 

He highlighted the importance of reproductive health collaboration. “Your doctors at Fujita Health University may no longer have practice in delivering babies due to Japan’s low birth rate. At the Philippine General Hospital, we deliver twenty to twenty-five babies daily, and we can accommodate students from Japan to learn normal delivery, care of mothers, and care of infants.

“We can also provide training and partnership opportunities in tropical medicine, given our expertise in leptospirosis, malaria, and dengue,” he added, highlighting the expertise of the UPM College of Public Health which is also the Regional Center of the SEAMEO TROPMED in the Philippines.

In closing, Chancellor Tee elaborated on the broader scope of the partnership, stating that the collaboration can extend to the exchange of faculty and students, joint research projects, and the sharing of academic materials and equipment.

Accompanying Chancellor Tee was Dr. Vivien Fe F. Fadrilan-Camacho, Director of the UPM Office of International and Local Linkages, whose office facilitated the visit. #