Department of Anesthesia

The MCU- FDTMF Department of Anesthesia offers a three-year residency program which provides a professional training in General Anesthesiology.  It provides utmost quality training and patient care in all aspects of anesthesia, including General Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Neurology,Ophthalmology, andSurgical Intensive Care, enabling the trainees to deal with most types of anesthetic and resuscitation problems. It also offers a regular rotation in the Pain Management Section. To further enrich the anesthesia training, outside rotations to specialty hospitals (i.e. Philippine Heart Center) are instituted.Importance is given to learning the foundations of anesthesia in the basic sciences and medical disciplines, and the development of knowledge and skills in clinical anesthesiology, under the close supervision of a competent consultant staff.

Throughout the program, there is a strong emphasis in ensuring that residents attain a high level of learning and develop critical thinking, coupled with clinical competence. Aside from these, the department is devoted in preparing the residents for a lifetime of continued professional and personal development, taking a holistic approach in developing future academicians, researchers, administrators, and leaders, putting high regard to moral and ethical values.

In the 1980’s, the Department of Anesthesia started training residents under the chairmanship of Dr. Aladdino Porciuncula. During that time, the department was not yet accredited by the Philippine Board of Anesthesiology (PBA), making the graduates ineligible to take the specialty board exams.

In 1985, to further enhance competency, Dr. Elena B. Realubit requested the PBA to allow graduates of MCU, whose training was non-accredited during that time, to take the specialty board exams in Anesthesia. Furthermore, she actively pursued to prepare the first training program in Anesthesia. To fulfill the requirementof having a chairman who is a full diplomate of the PBA, Dr. Realubit was appointed Chairman in 1986. Consequently, she recruited Dr. Fe Yabut and Dr. Amelia Manzon to complete the three diplomate consultants required by the PBA. Hence, the department was fully accredited to be a Training institution in Anesthesia. Additionally, Dr. Merlina Cabrera passed the board exams, followed by Dr. Amanda Falcotelo. Subsequently, amnesty was given to the other graduates by the PBA, allowing them to take the practical and oral exams only, eventually giving the title of diplomate to its other graduates. The road to excellence continued on.

In 1996, Dr. Ma. Lilybeth R. Tanchoco, a Pain specialist, joined the consultant training staff. She was subsequently appointed Chair of the department in 2004. Dr. Monique Yoingco, a Pediatric anesthesiologist, and Dr. Merlina Cabrera, another Pain specialist, completed the six active consultant staff in 2002 and 2009, respectively.  In 2012, Dr. Yoingco was appointed Chair of the department. In that same year,Dr. Amanda Falcotelo joined the active consultant staff, and eventually she was appointed as the department’s Training Officer. In 2015, Dr. Manuel Sotelo, III, a Surgical intensivist, joined the consultant staff, completing the now seven Active Rotating Consultant roster of the Department of Anesthesia. All consultants participate actively in the training of the residents, continually improving the program, as well as serving their administrative function.

To be the benchmark in Anesthesiology Residency Training, through integration of basic and clinical anesthesiology, pain management, critical care and research with professionalism, commitment and ethical practice.

Guided by the tradition of excellence in the performance of anesthesia, educational responsibility, and moral obligation in the Philippines, we are committed….

To instill among the trainees the foundations of anaesthesiology in the basic sciences (anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, physics) and their clinical applications;

To prepare trainees in clinical anaesthesiology including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intensive care, pain management and research;

To develop among trainees the responsibility in the assumption of the role of expert in the therapeutic team;

To create an environment which allows critical thinking, in–depth analysis, and proper assessment of scientific and clinical information;

Toproduce educators in the field of anaesthesiology, and

To allow the trainees to satisfy the requirements of the PBA for achieving diplomate status.