BRIEF HISTORY
Cardiac catheterization started in UP-PGH shortly after World War II with the establishment of a cathlab funded by war reparations. Back then, procedures were performed by Dr. Cristino Lazatin, Dr. Evelyn Sinjian, and Dr. Aida Baltazar. However, due to inadequate funds, it was short-lived and the project was not sustained. Later on, Dr. Yolando Sulit, fresh from his Harvard fellowship, introduced the technique of coronary angiography as we know it today. It has his proteges, whom he sent for training abroad, who returned to PGH in 1998 to man the new Cathlab.
Inaugurated in September 1998, the UP-PGH Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory remains steadfast in its mandate to provide excellent service, training, and research in its untiring quest to do its part in improving the quality of health of the Filipino people. As the fifth Cathlab facility to open in Manila and the first digital biplane Cathlab facility in the country, it remains a flagship project of UP-PGH, offering its high-technology expertise to its largely indigent patient populace. It is also the training ground for the next generations of interventional cardiologists and radiologists, as well as advanced cardiac care nursing and vascular radiology.
Each year, the UP-PGH Cathlab struggles to face the challenges of providing quality health care to the public despite the limited budget provided by the government and the escalating cost of health care services. It, however, remains determined to achieve the vision of PGH of being “globally competitive, committed to the health of the Filipino people through a system of networking, served by competent, compassionate, and ethical health professionals working as a team, and in being the center of excellence in leadership in health care, training, and research that creates an impact on health policies.”
