RHEUMATalk

By: Armando C. Lontoc, MD

The Rebirth of Rheumatology Section of the UPHMC Department of Medicine

It was barely a month after my PRA subspecialty board examination in May 2006 that I decided to submit my application as a visiting consultant in the department. It was really my plan to be accredited, UPHMC being the closest hospital from where I stay (Carmona, Cavite). I was met by Dra. Rhodora “Doray” De Lara-Valenzona, who is the present training officer and the acting chairman during that time in the absence of Dra. Elizabeth Carreon who chairs the department. “Approved! No need for an interview” was the first statement I heard from her. The department is in need of a rheumatologist and my coming in was such a perfect timing. Shortly thereafter, I was asked to meet Dr. Umil who encouraged me to be an active staff of the department instead of just a visiting consultant. I was immediately invited in the department’s weekly conference to be introduced to the consultants, residents and medical students. Eventually, I was asked to lecture for them and later teach the subject for the medical students in the college and the rest is history.

Based on my previous conversations with the other consultants, I learned that Dr. Perry Tan, (the immediate past president of PRA) used to be connected with the department but not for a long time. Then Dra. Vinny Mina, who is now based mainly at Binan Doctors’ Hospital, was also asked to see rheumatology referrals/patients/cases until my arrival.

Rheumatology is one subspecialty where there are only less than a hundred consultants nationwide. And so, there are still places in the country where no rheumatologist attends properly to patients with arthritic conditions and other connective tissue diseases. Many of us think this way, “arthritis lang yan, NSAIDs or steroids lang ang gamot dyan!” There are a lot of misconceptions. Generalizations are common, and therefore, mismanagements are likewise committed. With over a hundred kinds of arthritis, identification of specific type is important. And rheumatology is not all about arthritis per se but it is also concerned with other systemic diseases, which more often than not, we are called at the very end when everything cannot be explained and seems not to be compatible with a much more common disease. Rheumatology is one such dynamic field with several researches in the offing. Expect more updates in the coming articles