Pres. Duterte Attends 3rd IBD Clinical Forum in Cebu
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte expressed his support to the Asian Pacific Association of Gastroenterology (APAGE) in their call to raise awareness on the prevention of a major disease called Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
President Duterte was the guest of honor and speaker during APAGE’s 3rd IBD Clinical Forum held in this city on September 21.
The event was attended by 200 to 400 gastroenterologists from Asia Pacific particularly from the countries of China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, Philippines, and also United Kingdom.
“One thing is very important here, it’s the early diagnosis, and I said it’s prevention,” President Duterte told the delegates of the convention.
The 3rd IBD Forum in Cebu also dubbed “Cebu 2018” focuses the discussion on the recent updates in understanding the causes of, diagnosis, and treatment of IBD.
IBD is a collection of inflammatory intestinal diseases and the two most common types are Crohn’s Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC).
The diagnosis of the disease may be confused with intestinal infections such as amoebiasis or intestinal tuberculosis.
Medical experts say complications of IBD can become severe, especially if the diagnosis is delayed or treatment is inadequate.
The risk of colon cancer is also increased.
According to APAGE, IBD affects the young working population and this has a great impact in the society and economy.
“We are catching up to the western countries where millions (of) people are suffering. A quarter million people (are) suffering IBD in Japan. It’s a serious disease,” APAGE President Ken Sugano disclosed in his welcome remarks during the event.
“We just started long fight against IBD. This meeting is quite important is to align our forces together to fight against emerging diseases in this part of the world,” he added.
Meanwhile, IBD Club of the Philippines Prof. Jose Sollano thanked President Duterte for gracing the event noting that this is the first time a sitting president attended such event.
APAGE President Ken Sugano, IBD Club of the Philippines President Prof. Jose Sollano, and Philippine Society of Gastroenterology Dra. Leticia Guzman were among the officials who welcomed the President upon his arrival at Shangri-La Mactan which was the venue of the forum.
President Duterte arrived at the venue of the convention at around 9:03 p.m. after visiting the victims of landslide that occurred in Naga City, Cebu on Sept. 20 who are temporarily housed in East Poblacion Barangay Hall which is one of the identified evacuation centers.
In his message, President Duterte also cited that uniform personnel especially those deployed in the mountains are prone to gastric disorders.
“When I became President, I noticed that 40 percent of all my soldiers and policemen suffer abdominal disorder,” President Duterte said.
“I don’t know why, maybe it’s the food. You know, when the soldier, they go to the mountains, drink water without purifiers and it’s just because it’s a spring in the mountain, you will easily just conclude that it’s clean, that is pure,” he elaborated.
“I don’t think that is true, because I said most of my (soldiers and policemen) – they have this – it’s in the gastroenterologist territory. Most of them are destroyed. Most of them die of something wrong there,” President Duterte added.
In relation to this, the President shared to the attendees of the convention that the government was able to improve V. Luna Hospital to bring quality medical services to soldiers.
“The hospitals now, the military have improved greatly,” the President remarked.
Aside from this, President Duterte also cited other issues like climate change, his stand on the proliferation of illegal drugs, corruption, and mining in his speech.
President Duterte took a photo op with the organizers of the event and also with the officers of APAGE before he left the venue. (ral/PIA7-Negros Oriental)
