VIVIAN D. CASTILLO, clinical director of Feel Better Rehab, specializes in Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT). Castillo, who happens to be a Filipina, demonstrates how she relieves pain from patient Ruth Millan. Developed by Dr. Sharon Giammatteo, IMT is a holistic and non-invasive approach to assessing and treating pain, dysfunction, disease and disability.

Video taken by INQUIRER.net multimedia reporter Erika Tapalla in Orange County, California.

By Rafael Castillo, MD
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Just when I thought that Filipino doctors have forgotten their solemn oath “to serve humanity to the best of my ability,” and just when I thought that Filipino doctors have no qualms of giving up their medical profession for the prospect of earning green bucks abroad, Dr. Rogie Tanco, the cardiologist-editor of The Filipino Internist, reminds me of the Filipino medical volunteers of the Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF (Doctors Without Borders), who serve in war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic and pandemic diseases.

The MSF is a Nobel Peace Prize awardee and annually, it recruits about 3,000 doctors, nurses, midwives and logisticians to provide health care in more than 70 underserved developing countries. A good number of these volunteers are Filipinos. “These doctors and other volunteers are unsung heroes,” Rogie told me.

Filipino volunteer

Among these volunteers is Dr. Elpidio Demetria, a board certified internist and infectious disease expert previously of San Lazaro Hospital. Before volunteering for MSF, Elpidio signed up with the Philippine medical contingent to Iraq.

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