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InciSioN Philippines

Suturing the Gaps: Championing Equity in Global Surgery

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InciSioN Global Surgery Symposium (IGSS) 2025

InciSioN Philippines Registration

📅 29-31 August 2025

📍True Blue, Saint George, Grenada

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The state of surgical access in the Philippines

Filipinos remain burdened by the cracks and gaps of the Philippine healthcare system, with six out of ten Filipinos dying without seeing a doctor. While the Philippines continues to strive for health for all, surgical access remains a luxury and–daringly–may have even been forgotten.

According to the Lancet, the Philippines has 0.9 surgeons per 100,000 people. As an archipelagic country, many patients from the geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas (GIDA) in the Philippines would require long hours of travel time to avail health services including surgeries.

Global surgery

Surgical care in the Philippines often remains overlooked in public health, viewed as costly and unnecessary. Most surgeons practice privately in tertiary hospitals, with little integration into the broader health system.

We aim to change this by promoting global surgery—the integration of surgery into public health. Through research, education, and advocacy, we seek to close gaps in access to quality surgical care. Starting with medical education, we engage future doctors and foster multidisciplinary collaboration through research, conferences, and capacity-building initiatives.

With limited baseline data, supporting research in global surgery is essential for evidence-based solutions and long-term improvements in Filipino healthcare.

InciSioN Philippines is the Philippine National Working Group of the International Student Surgical Network (InciSioN) Global. InciSioN is an international non-profit organization that consists of medical students, residents and young doctors from all over the world who have come together to discuss, educate on, advocate for, and perform research in Global Surgery.

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