The PGH Department of Orthopedics inaugurated its newly renovated conference room dedicated to the department’s founder, Dr. Ambrosio Tangco, on 18 February 2019 at the PGH Spine Unit.
“Our conference room may have brought probably fear and dread during our residency years, but more than that, it is a place of learning, a venue for exchanging ideas, and a place where we can bond and form friendships. All of these in pursuit of excellence for the treatment of orthopaedic patients,” stated Dr. Joseph Garvy L. Lai, Executive Officer of the department. Former chairperson Dr. Edward Wang said that at 47 years, the department has graduated close to 200 orthopedic surgeons and was being run by 30 consultants – men and women who carried the torch of leadership and relevance on both the national and regional level.
“For all of these, we thank the original mission of Dr. Tangco to whom we dedicate this conference room,” said Dr. Wang.
Dr. Tangco graduated from the UP College of Medicine and trained in orthopaedics at Harvard University after the war. He joined PGH in 1948 and became head of the Section of Orthopedics of the Department of Surgery from 1952 to 1962. When he became a member of the UP Board of Regents (BOR) in 1961, Dr. Tangco continued to pursue his dream of establishing a Department of Orthopedics. The department was born on June 22, 1971 through a resolution passed by the BOR at its 810th meeting with Dr. Jose V. Silao as first chairperson.
“Without the visionary leaders a century ago, we will not be where we are right now. So we have the responsibility to continue that tradition, we have the responsibility to make sure it even gets stronger,” stated UP Manila Chancellor Carmencita Padilla during the inauguration.
With the department conducting a large number of postgraduate courses a year among all the departments, Dr. Wang said this would not be possible without the dedication of its faculty who, for many years, have kept it on the map of medicine with cutting edge and state-of-theart courses and workshops. He added that a large part of the funds for the renovation came from the postgraduate courses, with OrthoRocks as the biggest which is an orthopaedic review of core knowledge that caters to 300-350 participants a year from all over the country. He acknowledged the donors to the project, namely, Arturo Dy of Pan Pacific Industrial Sales Co. Inc. (Panpisco), Valentino Go, Jeffrey and Wendy Keng of Pacific Glass, and Wilson So.
PGH Director Gerardo Legaspi announced that the spine services will be transferred to an integrated spine service unit in the new building, the construction of which will be funded by a private donation of P700 million.
CHARMAINE LINGDAS | Published in UP Manila Healthscape No. 372 (January – February 2019)
