OVER 200 medical doctors gathered on Tuesday, October 16, for the first day of the Third West Metro Medical Symposium and Exposition in Zamboanga City.
The medical doctors in attendance came from various cities and municipalities of Western Mindanao as well as the Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. Speakers in the biggest medical event in the region flew in from other parts of the country.
The first speaker on Tuesday, October 16, was Department of Health Assistant Secretary Enrique Tayag, fondly called the dancing doctor. He spokes about antimicrobial stewardship program in hospitals.
Throughout the course of the event, there will be 18 other speakers to deliver lectures on various topics grounded on the theme “The Double Burden of Disease: Rural and Urban Threats.”
The theme seeks to focus on the challenges faced by communities in simultaneously battling both communicable diseases like pneumonia and tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and chroninc respiratory diseases.
Dr. Wilhelmina Hocson, the medical director of West Metro and the chair of the symposium’s scientific committee, explained that the theme was chosen “because we felt that it was about time we discuss this health trend in the context of Western Mindanao.”
Simultaneous with the symposium is an expo of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies manufacturers and distributors. About 35 exhibitors will be displaying their products at the event.
The medical symposium and expo is organized by West Metro Medical Center, a private hospital in this city that opened in 2016 and is located on Veterans Avenue Extension.
Ramon Diaz, West Metro Medical Center president and chief executive office said that the reason for organizing the sympoisium was to create a venue where medical doctors can gather to learn together and discuss public health issues, expecially those that impact Western Mindanao.
The first two symposia, in 2016 and 2017, both attracted 250 doctos from the region and the island provinces of Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. (PR)