One of the few people is the National Scientist Dr. Fe del Mundo. She dedicated her life in service to others. If most of the people today would say that they would want to graduate because they want to have a comfortable life, Dr. Fe del Mundo would not just probably aim to graduate, she aimed to discover, to use and to apply her knowledge not to have a comfortable life for herself but to help others have a comfortable life. She was a “paediatrician, a scientist, a teacher, a researcher, an upholder of public health,” (Aquino, 2011) and most of all, a mother. As a paediatrician, she applied all her learnings by helping ill people, especially the outcasts. “During the Japanese Occupation, she opened the Children’s Home and for a year and a half, she had mothered some 400 children and had helped women and ill people during the war.”(Official Biography, 2011) She established the “Chldren’s Memorial Hospital, later known as Dr. Fe del Mundo Medical Center” and expanded with the establishment of “Institute of Maternal and Child Health.” (National Scientist, 2011) To establish these medical centers, “she sacrificed her personal belongings, etc.” (National Scientist, 2011)She researched on “viral diseases, particularly those on polio-myelitis, rubeola, rubella, and varicella.” (National Scientist, 2011) She invented “an inexpensive incubator which was made of bamboo in 1973.” (National Scientist, 2011) “She developed an improvised bamboo radiant warmer and a photo therapy device that could cure babies with jaundice.” (National Scientist, 2011) All these in dedication to those who couldn’t afford expensive cure to their diseases. Dr. Fe del Mundo was working for the poor and incapable, and all her works were heartfelt. She was most dedicated to the poor that she “formulated strategies to incorporate the ways of hilot or traditional midwife to the family planning and birth attending framework of health services in rural communities.” (National Scientist, 2011) Though Dr. Fe de Mundo had a heart for the poor, she also aimed to help people aside from the poor. She helped in every possible way, in action and in words. She was a writer in the “Journal of Pediatrics, Journal of the Philippine Medical Association, and Manila Sunday Times Magazine.” (Official Biography, 2011)In these papers, she was a “steady contributor,” helping her readers with her health advices and guidance. (Official Biography, 2011) All her works were to promote public health and all cited here are not the complete list. Words aren’t enough to cite all her works.
Because of her contributions not just to her nation but to the world, she had received bulk of titles. She was the very “first female and first Asian to be enrolled in Pediatrics at the prestigious all-male Harvard Medical School as a Philippine Commonwealth scholar.” (National Scientist, 2011) She didn’t just made her country, the Philippines, proud but also the Asian and women communities. She was titled with many “firsts.” She was the first “woman to head a general hospital in the Philippines, Filipino diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics, Asian president of the Medical Women’s International Association, woman president and founder of the Philippine Pediatric Society and Philippine Medical Women’s Association.” (National Scientist, 2011) She received national and international awards. Some are the “Elizabeth Blackwell Award for her outstanding service to mankind in1966, Ramon Magsaysay Awards for her public service as a private citizen in 1977, the Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Award, and in 2010, the Order of Lakandula with the rank of Bayani by the Philippine Government.” (National Scientist, 2011) She received much more awards and she was deserving of all those awards. She was not only a citizen, a Filipino, an Asian, a doctor or a teacher – she was everything that she could be.
Citation:
_____________, 2011. National Scientist Fe del Mundo: Grand Dame of Philippine Pediatrics
and Medicine, 99. National Academy of Science and Technology.
http://www.nast.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=299:national-scientist-
fe-del-mundo-grand-dame-of-philippine-pediatrics-and-medicine-99&catid=1:news.
February 22, 2014.
Aquino, Benigno S., III, 2011. Talumpati ng Kagalang-galang Benigno S. Aquino III Pangulo ng Pilipinas
Sa serbisyong nekrolohikal bilang paggunita kay Dra. Fe del Mundo, Pambansang
Siyentista. Official Gazette. http://www.gov.ph/2011/08/11/president-aquinos-speech-
at-the-necrological-services-in-honor-of-national-scientist-dr-fe-del-mundo
-august-11-2011/. February 22, 2014.
_____________, 2011. Official biography of Dr. Fe del Mundo from the Ramon Magsaysay
Foundation. http://www.gov.ph/banner-artwork/fe-del-mundo/. February 22, 2014.
2013-52498
Nikka Marie Sales
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