DAVAO CITY—Mindanao’s pioneering spine surgeons here plans to hold next month the country’s first workshop on spine-injection procedure for spine and orthopedic surgeons, the Davao Doctors Hospital (DDH) said.
The workshop would be specific for the minimally invasive surgery on cervical and lumbal spine, said Dr. Ronald P. Tangente, the hospital’s assistant director for medical education and a pioneer in spine surgery in Mindanao.
The workshop on May 2 would combine lectures with simultaneous procedures at the DDH operating room on cervical and lumbar nerve root blocks, a hospital announcement said.
Tangente said the workshop would allow the hospital’s pioneering work in spine surgery in Mindanao “to share the techniques and procedures in spine injection with our fellow surgeons”.
Dr. Ramona B. Reyes, spine surgeon at the same hospital, said fellows of the Philippine Spine Society and the Philippine Orthopedic Society would be attending. There are 80 spine surgeons and more than 800 orthopedic surgeons in the country, she said.
Tangente began spine surgery in 2001and the hospital has conducted surgeries to 30 patients so far. There are only four spine surgeons in Davao City and about 20 others across Mindanao.
Reyes said she would not mind sharing their experience developed through the years of practice, saying “this is meant to help other surgeons facilitate the easing of pain among Filipinos seeking treatment for spine-related complaints.”
Ma. Karina M. Santos, director of the DDH’s Learning and Development Department, said the workshop would be the hospital’s latest “contribution to medical learning in Mindanao and the rest of the country”.
In the last two decades, she said the hospital has pioneered in major surgical and medical operations that “helped a lot of Mindanao residents to cut cost on expenses when the required procedures were then being done only in Manila hospitals.”
Among the procedures were kidney transplant, orthopedic surgery, open-heart surgery and the establishment of eye and cancer centers, said Ma. Melissa Azasan-Anino, the chief of DDH corporate communication.
The DDH is among the 12 hospitals of the Metro Pacific Investment Corp. of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan. It has ranked third in business profitability and systems-operation efficiency among the MPIC hospitals, Tangente said.