“To serve the underserved”, is the motto of the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod, the volunteer service of the University of the Philippines. Alive and well, volunteerism thrives in the midst of the bustling patient care in the Philippine General Hospital and the academe of UP-Manila.
In counter-response to the perception that the UP had “lost its soul”, the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod was established in September 1996 by then UP President Emil Javier, institutionalizing volunteerism within the university.
Pahinugod, a Cebuano term for ‘offering oneself’, became the moniker for the UP-deployed volunteer. Various projects from educational assistance programs (tutorial services, teacher development, Gurong Pahinungod), to hospital and community health programs (ER volunteer program, health missions, health training), to social welfare programs (program for street children, disaster response and preparedness program), as well as to volunteer advocacy and research programs, had been regular activities of the volunteer service. In the previous year, Ugnayan ng Pahinujngod of UP-Manila deployed a total of 1252 volunteers in 128 underserved communities.
A large part of these endeavours in health had been initiated, coordinated, and implemented by the UP-Manila, the health sciences center of the university. In the previous year alone, 18 medical, 18 dental and 9 surgical missions were conducted in the name of UP through partnerships with various non-government organizations and local government units. The Pahinungods have serviced marginalized communities from as far north as the Batanes Islands, and as far south as islands of Sulu and Tawi-tawi. In its long track record, medical and surgical missions, piggy-backed with health training courses for Barangay Health Workers as well as community leaders, were conducted in remote areas as Barangay Maragat of Apayao Province (a good 12-hour hike from a base in Tuguegarao, Cagayan), the conflict-stricken Lamitan town of Basilan, the remote barrios of Lubang Island (where a Japanese World War II straggler was found in 1975), and the isolated communities of Fuga Island (accessed though a 5-hour boat ride from Appari, Cagayan).
A large part of these endeavours in health had been initiated, coordinated, and implemented by the UP-Manila, the health sciences center of the university. In the previous year alone, 18 medical, 18 dental and 9 surgical missions were conducted in the name of UP through partnerships with various non-government organizations and local government units. The Pahinungods have serviced marginalized communities from as far north as the Batanes Islands, and as far south as islands of Sulu and Tawi-tawi. In its long track record, medical and surgical missions, piggy-backed with health training courses for Barangay Health Workers as well as community leaders, were conducted in remote areas as Barangay Maragat of Apayao Province (a good 12-hour hike from a base in Tuguegarao, Cagayan), the conflict-stricken Lamitan town of Basilan, the remote barrios of Lubang Island (where a Japanese World War II straggler was found in 1975), and the isolated communities of Fuga Island (accessed though a 5-hour boat ride from Appari, Cagayan).
Responding to increasing requests for its many programs, the Ugnayan ng Pahinungod has opened its application to non-UP volunteers. Currently, projects like the ER Volunteers program deployed 637 nurses, mostly newly graduated and unemployed, to train in different levels for service in the Emergency Room of the Philippine General Hospital. Volunteer general surgeons, anaesthesiologists, obstaetrician-gynecologists, ENT specialists, plastic surgeons, internists and paediatricians as well from different hospitals in Metro-Manila had been deployed and are coming back to volunteer for more missions.
Despite the current economic crisis, all efforts are being exerted to continue pushing these programs. Indeed, where will the health sciences be, if not for the dedication of our compassionate doctors to serve the needy in good times or bad.
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