The Philippine Online Chronicles

Dr. Fe Del Mundo, the dame of pediatrics in the country, succumbed to heart attack early morning Saturday. She was 99.

Del Mundo devoted her life and work to the cause of maternal and child health. She is considered as the 'Great Dame' of Philippine pediatrics for establishing the Children's Memorial Hospital in 1957, (now the Dr. Fe Del Mundo Medical Foundation).

Born on November 27, 1911, served as the hospital's president and chief pediatrician since 1957, more than half her life.

She is also the first Filipina national scientist, most recognized for her invention – a makeshift incubator made of bamboo which was used in rural areas without electricity, a cloth-suspended scale to weigh infants and a radiant warmer made of bamboo to maintain the baby's body temperature.

The innovative incubator consisted of two native woven baskets used for keeping laundry. These were of different sizes; the smaller basket was placed inside the larger one. In an biographical interview in 2007, Del Mundo said, “I put in hot water bottles all around between them. I put a little hood over the entire contraption and attached oxygen for the baby,” she says. “We had to do with whatever was available.”

Great achievements

She graduated valedictorian and the "Most Outstanding Scholar in Medicine” at the University of the Philippines in 1933. After that, she traveled to the United States with a Fellowship Grant from the Commonwealth of the Philippines, completing Pediatric courses A, B and C at Harvard Medical College in 1937, earning an M.A. degree in Bacteriology from Boston University in 1940.

She is the first Filipino woman, and the first female, to be enrolled at Harvard Medical School. She also studied and trained at Columbia University, University of Chicago, Boston University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Del Mundo is a pediatrician, national scientist, researcher, hospital administrator and medical leader that broke every record among her peers in the medical school, during her residency training, in practice and in medical politics, here and abroad,” according to the Far Eastern University Medical Journal.

Last year, she was conferred the Lakandula Award with rank of Bayani. In 1977, she was a recipient of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Outstanding Public Service. In 1966, she received the Elizabeth Blackwell Award, for her "outstanding service to mankind."

According to ABS-CBN report, Del Mundo's remains lie at the conference hall of the Dr. Fe del Mundo Medical Center Foundation in Quezon City and will be brought to the Santo Domingo Church on Wednesday, August 10. She will be buried with honors at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City on Thursday. She is survived by her niece Elisa Bengzon, currently the CEO of the Dr. Fe del Mundo Medical Center Foundation.