TRACKING the progress of medicine in the country since the Spanish times, international and local health sciences scholars and archivists held the First International Conference on the History of Medicine recently at the Antonio Vivencio del Rosario Heritage Section of the Miguel de Benavidez Library (formerly UST Central Library). The event sought to boost interest in medical history research.
In his paper, professor Peter Boomgaard of the Royal Netherlands Institute for the Study of Southeast Asia and the Caribbean said that Southeast Asia’s medical history research lags behind that of Western Europe, China, and India.
“The medical history of Southeast Asia is not a well-developed field here,” Boomgaard said.
Fr. Angel Aparicio, O.P., UST prefect of libraries, said that although UST houses one of the richest collections of manuscripts on the history of medicine in its archives, only few researchers are interested in the branch of research.
Aparicio, who tackled the “Bibliography of Medical Books Existing at the Miguel de Benavides Library (before 1945),” pointed out that most of the country’s resources on the history of medicine are written in Spanish or other European languages.
“Our researchers lack enough knowledge of these languages and there is a kind of negative attitude with regard to all that came from Spanish education,” said Aparicio, “But science cannot progress without awareness of its foundations.”
He said UST played a significant role in Philippine medicine’s history as it was the first university to establish a Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and a Faculty of Pharmacy in 1871. The two schools produced graduates who influenced the practice of health care delivery in the country, Aparicio added.
Among these graduates, according to Aparicio, were Rafael Ginard, who served as secretary of a board created in 1877 on the reorganization and reform of medical classes in the Philippines; Carlos Molina Nalda and Jose de Antelo, who received the award “Cross of Epidemics” after they served in the cholera epidemic that struck the country in 1882; Francisco Juan Capelo, who wrote a book explaining legal medicine and providing references to treat internal illnesses and hemorrhages; and Jacobo Fajardo who authored the Fajardo Act (1912), which appropriated 5-10 per cent of provincial and municipal income to health services.
Other speakers in the conference were Juan O. Mesquida, who spoke on “The Misericordia of Manila: Founder and Patron of the Hospital of San Juan de Dios”; Lucio Gutierrez, O.P., who discussed the “San Gabriel, Hospital de Chinos, Founded by the Dominicans”; Fidel Villaroel, O.P., who lectured on the “Origin of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and the Faculty of Pharmacy, UST”; Norberto Martinez, who talked about “The Licensure Curricula of the First Period of the Faculty of Medicine”, Artemio Ordinario, who delivered the “The Doctoral Curricula of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Santo. Tomas before the Japanese Occupation”; Mary Jean Villa-Real-Guno, who lectured on “The First Faculty Members of the University of Santo Tomas, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery”; Gil Gonzalez, who tackled “The First Graduates of the Faculty of Medicine: Their Impact on Medicine in the Philippines”; Linda Newson, who discussed “Spanish Medical Practice in the Early Colonial Philippines: Context and Prospects”; and Angeles Tan-Alora, who discussed “Some Notes on Cholera and Leprosy in the Philippines.”
Dr. Raquel Reyes of the School of Oriental and African Studies was another international speaker.
The conference was organized by the UST Central Library with the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery. Aparicio said that the event was just the first of the series of conferences that the Central Library plans to hold every two years in different countries. The next conference is planned to be held in Madrid, Spain, he added. Kristine Jane R. Liu
