Papua New Guinea Doctors Learn from SPMC’s Cancer Institute

IF THERE’S any one group that has mastered the art of making do and grown big with that, it’s the Children’s Cancer Center of the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), an endeavor that started with just four beds in what was then the Davao Medical Center’s pediatrician ward.

Two years later in 2006, it became ten beds. By 2010, it had become the largest dedicated pediatric oncology unit in a public hospital, complete with hematology and oncology specialists and support staff, and in 2016, it became the Children Cancer Center under SPMC’s Cancer Institute, and in 2022, the final gift of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte to children with cancer in Mindanao, the Cancer Diagnostic and Treatment Facility was inaugurated.

Growth like this will not go unnoticed, and thus, the center has become a showcase of sorts for those in similar situations.

Just last month, there was the team from the Port Moresby General Hospital, the biggest hospital in Papua New Guinea with an official bed capacity of 900, but which spills off to upto 1,200.

They came to observe, learn, and apply what the center has done to grow this big.

Dr. Benjamin Daur, pediatric oncologist at the PMGH, said they have a ten-bed unit for child cancer patients, like SPMC in 2006. It is the only child cancer ward in the whole of PNG, which has a total population of between 10 million and 11 million, around half of Mindanao’s population.

Dr. Daur said he learned about the Children Cancer Center through former CCC Director Dr. Mae Concepcion J. Dolendo at the 4th ICPCN International Conference on Children’s Palliative Care in Manila in 2025.

“So I was telling her how I was interested in learning from other places, and she suggested SPMC. And I was so inspired by her story, how she told me that she started off from four beds and how those four beds have turned into an entire cancer institute,” Dr. Daur said in Dr. Dolendo’s office.

He admits that the facility took him by surprise.

“I didn’t understand the scale of the institute until I came here on Monday (April 11, 2026).

Then I realized, wow, it’s an entire building. So that was really amazing. That’s very inspiring.”

With Dr. Daur were Seralyne Lino, a registered nursing office, and Sr. Carol Konj, also a registered nurse at PMGH’s pediatric oncology ward.

Their unit in PMGH was initiated by Dr. Gwenda Anga, the first pediatric oncologist at their

hospital. They have around 40% survival rate for those diagnosed and treated, which they wished could be increased more.

RN Lino said they learned more about chemotherapy drugs and their administration, but singled out CCC’s emphasis on hygiene. This alone solves many complications.

RN Konj, for her part, was elated that their visit coincided with a two-day biotherapy workshop. “So we also attended, and it was very informative.”

What impressed Dr. Daur most is the weekly meeting CCC holds with other allied units of the hospital to tackle each case.

“They do a lot of case discussions. One thing we learned here is whenever a child comes into the hospital, a new patient, on the next Monday they discuss the cases straight away and I think that’s something we haven’t been doing in our setting,” he said, but it’s something that they can do right away.

“And so the team has a plan for each child as soon as they come in. They have the entire week to work up the child because they do the meeting on Monday.”

Dr. Dolendo, in a separate chat, identified the meeting as their Multidisciplinary team meeting with doctors, nurses, and support staff. The doctors include CCC’s team of pediatric

hematologists and oncologists, infectious diseases, palliative care, intensive care, and other invited specialty teams.