PCOM officers take oaths

The new officers of the Philippine College of Occupational Medicine - Negros Occidental Chapter for 2014-2015 led by Dr. Nida Isabel De la Peña took their oath before PCOM national president Dr. Oscar Santiano at the 12th Dr. Telesforo de los Reyes Jr. Memorial Lecture held in Bacolod City Saturday.

Dr. Luciene Lourdes Villacin, the memorial lecture guest speaker, discussed: “The Relevance of the Recent Lipid Guidelines and Its Impact on Clinical Practice.”

Col. Isabelo de los Reyes said the lecture is held in honor of his late father, Dr. Telesforo de los Reyes Jr., the founding president of PCOM-NOC in 1997.

 He said PCOM is a specialty society of the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians, Division of the Philippine Medical Association, an affiliate member of the International Commission on Occupational Health and   Asian Association of Occupational Health.

Dr. Jovencio Padilla said PCOM has 23 active chapters and about 2,900 active members in the Philippines.

Other officers of the PCOM are Dr. Eduardo Ordoñez – vice president (north), Dr. Jose  Alabado – vice president (south), Dr. Cecilia Salvador –secretary, Dr.  Erlinda de los Reyes - treasurer,  Dr. Jose Gerardo Rivera - PRO.

Members of the Board of the Directors are Drs. Rollin Fernandez, Antonio Guanzon, Rudy Gonzales, Rafael Jocson, Carlitos Magno, Lydia Mogul, Eden Rivera, and Fe Valenzuela.

Immediate past president is Dr. Enrique Serna Jr., who was awarded “Occupational Physician of Negros Occidental 2013.”

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SP: May 31 ‘No Tobacco Day’

The Bacolod Sangguniang Panglunsod,   declared May 31, 2014 as “No Tobacco Day” in cognizance of tobacco related health risks causing death of nearly six million people each year, of which more than 600,000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke.

The resolution authored by Wilson Gamboa Jr.,  marked Bacolod City as among those cities and countries around the world advocating sound fiscal policies to reduce tobacco consumption as it follow this year’s theme “Raise Taxes on Tobacco” , a press release from Gamboa’s office said.

The resolution cited the alarming local Filipino statistics gathered by the Global Adult Tobacco Survey where 28 percent or 17 million Filipino adults aged 15 years and older are current tobacco smokers, the press release said.

Almost half (48 percent or 14.6 million) of adult males and nine percent (2.8 million) of adult females are current smokers and on the average, male daily smokers consume 11 cigarettes per day while female daily smokers consume seven cigarettes per day, the release said.

Unless this is acted upon, the epidemic according to WHO will kill more than eight million people every year by 2030; more than 80 percent of these preventable deaths will be among people living in low-and middle-income countries, it said.

The resolution  entreated the Bacolod SP to enjoin all local government units, heads of government agencies and instrumentalities, including government owned and controlled corporations and the private sectors to engage and participate in activities relative to the event, the press release said.

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