Philippine General Hospital

The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) is a state-owned hospital operated by the University of the Philippines, Manila and the University of the Philippines System. It is located at Ermita, Manila in the Philippines. It is the biggest hospital in the country with 1400 bed capacity. It offers some of the cheapest rates for patients and is generally known as the hospital for indigent patients. However, it is a mixed use hospital--1000 beds for indigent patients and 400 beds for private patients.

The PGH, being the largest training hospital in the country, is the laboratory hospital of health science students enrolled in the University of the Philippines. This includes students of medicine, nursing, physical therapy, pharmacy, occupational therapy, dentistry and speech pathology. It is also affiliated with the nursing schools of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and the St. Paul University-Manila.

There are 14 clinical departments--Anesthesiology, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Neurosciences, Pediatrics, Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Rehabilitation Medicine, Psychiatry, Radiology, Pathology, Emergency Medicine and Obstetrics & Gynecology--all of which offer residency and fellowship training. It also offers various training for paramedical specialties such as nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech pathology, radiation technology, nutrition, hospital dentistry, medical technology and EMT training.

On an average year, about 600,000 patients pass through the hospital's halls. Because of this, many organizations help the hospital. Some help the hospital directly, such as the PGH Medical Foundation. Others help patients by financing the cost of medications, operations and therapies. Some of these organizations are based within the University, notably the Mu Sigma Phi Fraternity and Sorority of the College of Medicine, recognized by UP Manila and the City of Manila as its outstanding organizations, LIKAS and Pagsama, both multi-college organizations and the Phi Lambda delta Sorority and Phi Kappa Mu Fraternity, also of the College of Medicine.

PGH is celebrating its centennial this 2007, one hundred years since the US government passed a law establishing it. The hospital has seen the worst of tropical epidemics during its early existence and the worst of the war in the 1940's. It is one of the very few Philippine hospitals that remained open all throughout the war.

External references
http://www.pgh.gov.ph/