Filipino national artist and painter Carlos “Botong” V. Francisco recorded and represented the history of medicine in the Philippines by creating four wall-shaped four-part oil paintings entitled The Progress of Medicine in the Philippines, which traced the practice of medicine from the time of the Babaylans (“medicine men and women”) to a period of modern times. The first painting depicts pre-colonial medicine, second medicine during the Spanish colonial period, third medicine during the American occupation, and fourth modernism of the 1950s. [11] [12] Each of the “panel paintings” measured 2.92 meters by 2.76 meters. [11] The paintings were commissioned from Francisco in 1953[11] by four physicians, namely Dr. Agerico Sison, Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing, Dr. Florentino Herrera, Jr. and Dr. Constantino Manahan.
Restorations of the historic paintings were carried out in 1974, 1991 and from 2006 to 2007. They were displayed in the lobby of the Philippine General Hospital[13] for 58 years until they were permanently transferred to the Foundation Hall of the Museum of the Philippines at the National Museum of the Philippines on July 27, 2011, as the paintings are now valued and were officially declared National Treasures of the Philippines on September 21, 2011. [11] The Philippine General Hospital now displays only reproductions of the original paintings photographed by Benigno Toda III, an expert in Filipino art. [11] Years before the arrival of the Spanish in the Philippines, the use of medicinal plants was the common method of treating diseases. Early Catholic missionaries such as Fr. Francisco Ignacio Alcina, SJ and Fray José de Valencia and Fr. Pablo Clain, SJ were able to compile and publish books on these medicinal plants in the Philippines. Alcina and de Valencia published their collection in 1669, while Clain published his collection in 1712. [2] The first qualities of plant medicine in the Philippines were first recorded by P. Blas de la Madre de Dios, OFM through his books Flora de Filipinas (Plants of the Philippines) and Tratado de Medicina Domestica (Treatise on Home Medicine). [3] Forensic Pathologist in the Context of Acute Care: Analysis of Forensic Consultations with Regard to Victim Statistics of the National Criminal Investigation Bureau of Saxony-Anhalt. The Trauma Surgeon 121(5): 391-396, 2018 Orfila was born as a Spanish citizen in Menorca and first studied medicine in Valencia and Barcelona before moving to Paris.
His first major work, Treatise on poisons drawn from the mineral, vegetal and animal kingdoms; or, General Toxicology, was published in 1814. After an unsuccessful attempt to establish chemistry professorships at medical schools in Spain, he returned to France. In 1816, he became the personal physician of the French monarch Louis XVIII. In 1817, he became professor of chemistry at the Athénée de Paris and published Eléments de chimie médicale sur les applications médicales de la chimie. In 1818, he published Secours à donner aux personnes empoisonées ou asphyxiées, suivi des moyens propre à reconnaissance les poisons et les vins fadulteées et à distinguish real death from apparent death. In 1819 he became a French citizen and professor of medical jurisprudence. Four years later, he became professor of medicinal chemistry. Filipino shamans (known by several names in different languages, e.g. Kataloan, Babaylans, etc.) were the first healers within the tribal communities of the ancient Philippines.
Later, people`s doctors and the training and use of real doctors emerged, as can be seen in the progress of Philippine history. Currently, medical personnel trained on the basis of Western medicine – such as Filipino nurses, doctors, physiotherapists, pharmacists, surgeons, among others – coexist with the ever-thriving group of traditional healers who have no formal training in scientific medicine and often care for people living in poor areas of the Philippines. [4] During the 17th and 18th centuries, the number of medical supplies entering the Philippines depended on the annual trade of Manila-Acapulco galleons, with medical supplies coming mainly from Mexico (New Spain). The cargoes had been transported from Europe to Mexico and then to the Philippines. In addition, the number of certified doctors, pharmacists and surgeons trained in Europe was concentrated in the Cuerpo Sanidad Militar in Manila. Because of this location of medical personnel in Manila, Franciscan and Dominican religious missionaries acted as nurses, hospital founders, and herbal medicine evaluators in the places where they were deployed. [3] Medicines and medicines from China and parts of Southeast Asia were part of the medical trade in the Philippines during the Spanish period. A report by Don Juan Grau y Monfalcon from 1637 testifies to the purchase of “valuable medicines” from a Cambodian king in 1600. A report by Bishop Domingo de Salazar OP in 1590 confirmed the existence of agreements with Chinese-run doctors and pharmacists in the Spanish Manila Parian.
[3] A spiritual father for the whole Church: Saint Ephraem the Syrian.
