Report of the governor general of the Philippine Islands. [1908]

860 REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.
THE FREE CLINIC AND DISPENSARY.
The school maintains a free clinic and dispensary at St. Paul's Hospital.
where the poor of the city of Manila can obtain medical attention and medicines free of charge. This clinic is divided into the following departments:
Surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics, eye, ear, nose and throat, and general and'tropical medicine. These have been partially equipped with the usual apparatus
and supplies. Requisition has been made for a complete surgical outfit for this
clinic.
Between September 1, 1907, and June 30, 1908, the following number of patients visited the clinic and received treatment.a
Funds for 50 beds for the clinical purposes of the school were furnished by
Act No. 1679 and 50 more, supported by the city of Manila, are also available
and the appropriation was continued by Act No. 1873. The use of these beds
by the school for clinical purposes is covered by a contract dated August 20,
1907, between St. Paul's Hospital and the board of control of the Philippine
Medical School. The patients receive lodging, subsistence, medicine, dressings, and medical and surgical treatment for the sum of P1.40 Philippine currency per day each. Seven hundred patients have been admitted for treatment
under the provisions of this contract, representing the total of 17,230 days'
service from August 20, 1907, to August 31, 1908. These clinics and free beds
are under the direct supervision of a clinical committee of the faculty of the
Philippine Medical School, of which Dr. W. E. Musgrave is the chairman.
The free beds, besides filling the purpose of providing clinical material for the
instruction of students, constitute in a far greater measure a public charity to
the poor and indigent of the city of Manila.
GENERAL CONDITIONS.
The faculty of the Philippine Medical School is composed of members who
have been called to the islands to assume positions primarily in the school
itself; of those detailed to the school from the bureaus of science and health,
and in one instance from the bureau of constabulary; and of practicing physicians in Manila not connected with either of the first two bureaus just
mentioned.
The policy which calls for the detail of a number of laboratory workers from
the bureau of science has brought about the necessity of a considerable modification of the plan of the work in the biological laboratory of that institution,
and the details and recommendations concerning the results of experience in
this connection have been fully set forth in the report of the director of the
bureau of science. It is owing to this intimate connection that it seemed necessary for the director of the bureau of science to mention somewhat at length
certain phases of the annual report of the Philippine Medical School in his report to the secretary of the interior, it being so compiled as to give the argument for certain recommendations in regard to a more accurate distinction
between the laboratory workers and those connected with clinical teaching.
The bureau of health has found it to be practically impossible to carry out
its programme of deatis to the medical school, owing to the great pressure of
work and the lack of men. The director of the bureau of health and the assistant director, who hold the chairs as professor and assistant professor of
hygiene, have assisted at the faculty meetings, but the actual teaching has been
confined to the work of Dr. Salvador Vivencio Del Rosario, who holds the
position of instructor in hygiene.
The necessity of having one member of the department of chemistry in the
Philippine Medical School constantly at work in the school itself developed
early in the school year, and as a result provision was made for the transfer
of Mr. Mariano Vivencio Del Rosario from the bureau of science to the medical
school. He is now on leave of absence in the United States, but upon his return will assume charge of the laboratory work in chemistry, a certain proportion of the lectures and recitations being taken by the dean.
The free clinic has been steadily growing in popularity and in the number of
patients applying for treatment. The present rooms at St. Paul's Hospital
being entirely inadequate, serious overcrowding has been the result, and it has
practically been impossible in the last few months for the staff to clear the
a Omitted and filed in the Bureau of Insular Affairs, War Department.