BEGINNINGS OF UROLOGY
by Dr. Egidio P. Elio
General surgery had emerged as a separate branch of General Medicine at the turn of the century. During the early decades, Urology was practiced by a few General Surgeons who were inclined to the specialty.
The most prominent during the first quarter of the century were Dr. Juan Z. Miciano and Dr. Gregorio T. Singian. Dr. Miciano became the first chairman of the Department of Surgery of UST in 1908. Dr. Singian, regarded as the most outstanding pioneer of surgery in the Philippines, performed the first laparotomy in the country in December 1900 at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Manila on a patient with a giant uterine myoma. He was the first Filipino to be appointed as associate professor of surgery at the Philippine Medical School, forerunner of the UP College of Medicine, in 1907. He assumed the chairmanship of the Department of Surgery of UST in 1913 and introduced the residency training program in the country to develop young and ambitious students in becoming surgeons.
The idea of transforming Philippine Urology into an independent specialty had its concrete form in 1933 when a three-year residency program in Urology and Proctology was set up by Dr. Gregorio T. Singian at the San Juan de Dios Hospital which was then affiliated with the UST College of Medicine. At this time, the general surgeons who were known for their special interest in Urology were Dr. Jose Eduque of the UP College of Medicine, Dr. Gerardo Vasquez and Dr. Manuel N. Tuason, both of the UST College of Medicine.
The San Juan de Dios residency training program, headed by Dr. Gerardo Vasquez laid the groundwork for the training of urologists in the country. Among those who received this training were Dr. Aurelio Dayrit Jr, and Dr. Francisco Vicuna. Dr. Ireneo Palma was undergoing training when World War II broke out, permanently disrupting the training program. Three foreign urologists practiced for a while before the outbreak of the war: Col. James S. Kimbrough of the Stenberg Hospital of the U.S. Army in Manila whose practice was limited to the military personnel and their dependents. Dr. Alfred Zinner who left for the United States, and Dr. F.L.A. Gonzales who started his practice at the Hospital Espanol de Santiago in Makati, Rizal and died a few years later.
In 1935, the world-famous Dr. Hugh H. Young of the Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland performed a Ureterolithotomy on Manuel L. Quezon then president of the Philippine Senate. The widely publicized operation spurred, among the Filipino surgeons, who had been followers of the European medical schools of thought, a sudden interest in American Urology. In December 1939, the first Stern-McCarthy resectoscope to arrive in the Philippines was in the hands of Dr. Gerardo Vasquez in one of the operating rooms of San Juan de Dios Hospital.
Among those who were attracted by the fame of American urologists were Dr. Manuel Ramos, Dr. Jose Willie, Dr. Luis F. Torres Jr, and Dr. Domingo T. Antonio Jr. Dr. Torres returned to the country in 1940. Dr. Antonio returned after an intensive and prolonged training during the war years. More Filipino urologists arrived after the liberation of the Philippines.
Among the urologists who practiced in Manila and suburbs during the later part of the 1940s were Dr. Tito V. Acuna, Dr. Antonio T. Domingo Jr, Dr Jose Galves Jr, Dr. Wenceslao Magbag, Dr. Julian R. Mendoza, Dr. Ireneo M. Palma, Dr. Manuel Ramos, Dr. Angel Reyes, Dr. Dionisio J. Rivera, Dr. Rene A. Tioteco, Dr. Luis F. Torres Jr, and Dr. Francisco Vicuna. Dr Aurelio Dayrit, who had trained partly in Urology at the San Juan de Dios Hospital, became known as a thyroid surgeon. Dr. Carlos Baylon stayed in Daraga, Albay and is considered the first provincial urologist in the country. Dr. Venustiano H.J. Borromeo practiced in Cebu, Dr. William Fletcher in Zamboanga and Dr. Eduardo J. Garcia in Bacolod. Most of them left the country in the 1960s and 1970s.
With no training program existing in the Philippines immediately after the World War II, the country relied mainly on the Filipino urologists who had the opportunity to train abroad. Of the 52 urologists who started practice from 1941 to 1970, 48 were graduates of foreign training centers mostly in the United States. The trend however, was entirely reversed during the last 27 years with the organization of the Philippine Board of Urology in 1972 which paved the way for the reopening and formal accreditation of local residency training programs in Urology.
