PCOMS now accepting applicants for 2014

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons  (PCOMS) is now accepting applicants for the one-year (full-time) Hospital Dentistry and Minor Oral Surgery Program at the Delos Santos Medical Center.

The course, a prerequisite for the four-year residency in oral and maxillofacial surgery, entails didactic and actual clinical surgical cases with exposure to major surgical cases.

Qualified residents may continue with the residency program which includes three rotation at the Internal Medicine Department of the hospital and a minimum of three rotation at the Chang Gung General Hospital or the National Taiwan University Hospital or six months at the Tri-Service General Hospital in Taiwan or a one-year rotation at the Beijing University, China.

Through the affiliation of PCOMS with several hospitals, residents can also have a chance to be sent abroad for fellowship or a masters degree program.

Currently, there are two residents enrolled in the two-year Masters in Science in OMS at Yang Ming University. Residents who have successfully finished the residency have also finished either their MSc. in OMS with a fellowship grant in Germany, and the others have finished a one-year surgical proficiency rotation in Chang Gung General Hospital in Taiwan and Beijing, all of which are integrated into the four-year residency program.

The two programs are the only accredited training programs of the PCOMS and both programs are listed at the website of the International Association of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (IAOMS) as the recognized training programs in the Philippines.

PCOMS is the only oral and maxillofacial surgery group in the Philippines accredited by the Philippine Dental Association and the Asian Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.

The program will start in January 2014. For details, call the secretariat office at 723-2447 or 723-0041 local 301 and look for Dr. Ivan de la Cruz or the training director, Dr. Carmelo Gepigon, at 0917-8719908. Orientation will be tomorrow at Room 304, Delos Santos Medical Center, E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue, Quezon City.