Health Care in Metropolitan Manila During the American Colonial Era: A History of the Management of Infectious Diseases and Its Effects on the Practice of Chinese Medicine

Abstract

Since the American occupation of Manila, the health care system of the Philippines was transformed with its goal of “modernizing the Philippines.” Systematic Western prevention and control measures and institutions were established. This in turn affected the practice of Chinese medicine, which was present since the Spanish period. With the help of Dr. Tee Hankee and other doctors, local Chinese medicine gradually developed into a combination of Chinese and Western medicine through the developments of the Chinese General Hospital and the establishment of the Filipino Chinese Western Medicine Association. The melding of Chinese and Western medicine formed a distinctive Philippine Chinese medical culture that was cultivated through the Chinese General Hospital, which has become one of the top local hospitals.

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Keywords

Chinese medicine, disease control, health system, pandemic, Manila, Western medicine