The practice of Pediatric Emergency Medicine in the Philippines, in the last 10 years is exponentially growing.

Dr. Ma. Victoria C. Ribaya, MD

Dr. Jacquelyn Olib- Velasquez, MD

Dr. Olivia Reyes-Abes, MD

Formalizing the specialty, the Philippine Society of Pediatric Emergency Medicine was organized by thirteen Pediatric Emergency Medicine Physicians in 2020.

These pediatricians obtained their training from various countries including the United States, Australia, Singapore and the Philippines. To date, there are only two fellowship PEM training programs in the Philippines.

Being a budding society, we identified a myriad of challenges that the group can slowly address. Inherent to being a developing country, there is great inequity in the delivery of service.

Some of the challenges include triage training, ED boarding, rapid depletion of manpower among doctors and nurses, and establishing local practice guidelines for specific emergency conditions. 

The burgeoning cost of health care in a population with a large proportion of indigent patients continues to be challenging.