Over 1,000 doctors dance for Guinness record

MANILA, Philippines - Some 1,146 obstetricians and gynecologists from across the country have attempted to land in the Guinness World Records by dancing to a mash up of hip-hop songs at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) in Pasay City yesterday.

The medical practitioners were hoping to set two records – the world’s largest number of doctors dancing to fight a disease and the world’s biggest hip-hop dance event.

But at the same time, the doctors also wanted to generate free vaccines for cervical cancer patients and raise public awareness about the disease that kills 12 Filipino women every day.

The event capped the scientific meeting organized by the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS).

“After a three-day scientific meeting, we decided to do something that is fun. It is something that will put us in the map and, at the same time, will raise awareness among lay people and other clinicians,” said Maria Julieta Germar, president of the Asia Oceania Research Organization on Genital Infections and Neoplasia (AOGIN).

The dance was conceptualized by AOGIN and the Philippine Society for Cervical Pathology and Colposcopy and Society of Gynecological Oncology of the Philippines, which are all affiliated with POGS.

Germar said to complete the package, they managed to convince pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline to donate one anti-cervical cancer vaccine for every doctor who would dance.

“This is really a win-win situation for us. This is a national meeting so the OBs from all regions are here. If 100 doctors from a region danced, they will get 100 vaccines. The winners will get 200 or double,” Germar said.

But while there are already vaccines against cervical cancer, many women are still dying from this illness primarily because of cost and lack of awareness about the disease.

According to GSK product manager Bing Salandanan, vaccine compliance in the country is very low at less than one percent.

“The number of women in the Philippines is 45 million but those eligible for vaccination, let’s say it’s 26 million. And of these 26 million, less than half a million had been vaccinated,” she said.

Salandanan added that 93 percent of cancer patients would not have developed the disease had they been vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common cause of cervical cancer.

Citing records of the World Health Organization, Germar said the country’s “screened population” for cervical cancer is also low at 9.8 percent.

Of this, seven percent are in Metro Manila.

The group pertains to those who undergo screening procedures like Pap smear.

Phl medical mission

 Meanwhile, Operation Smile, the private and non-profit volunteer medical organization that provides reconstructive surgery to indigent children with cleft lips and palates worldwide, will mark its 30th foundation this year with the largest medical mission ever to be staged in the Philippines.

Some 300 volunteer medical professionals from 35 countries have started arriving in the country to join 700 Filipino volunteers and perform free reconstructive surgeries on an initial 1,500 indigent Filipino children with cleft problems.

Operation Smile said a typical cleft lip or palate reconstructive surgery costs about P15,000.

The reconstructive surgery project, called “The Journey Home,” will start tomorrow at the Bicol Medical Center in Naga City.

Similar surgeries will also be performed by Operation Smile volunteers from Nov. 12-17 at the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center in Angeles City; Teresita Jalandoni Memorial Provincial Hospital in Silay City, Negros Occidental; and Northern Mindanao Medical Center in Cagayan de Oro City.

Meanwhile, from Nov. 26-30, surgeries will be performed at the Sta. Ana Hospital in Manila; De La Salle University Medical Center in Dasmariñas City, Cavite; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City and at the General Santos City District Hospital in General Santos City.

Operation Smile president Roberto Manzano said the medical mission intends to treat 4,500 children in three weeks.

“After an extensive preparation, the journey home has begun. You can describe Operation Smile as being Filipino born of American parents,” said Manzano in a press conference in Makati yesterday.

American craniofacial surgeon William Magee, together with his nurse wife Kathleen, started the organization’s work in the Philippines in 1982 following a medical mission in Naga City to treat children with cleft lips and palates.

Magee told reporters that in their initial surgeries, only 40 patients were treated but more than 300 showed up and had to be turned away.

“One woman gave me a bunch of bananas to thank me for treating her daughter. But we were not able to treat her. We told the woman that we may be able to treat her daughter next year. So we went back and we were able to treat 150 children,” he said.

Magee said that event marked the birth of Operation Smile.

“There is no better place in the world to start Operation Smile than in the Philippines. I think in our past lives we were Filipinos,” he said.