Surgeons Do Not Cry by Ting Tiongco

I've been pimping Surgeons Do Not Cry by Ting Tiongco for a while now for two reasons. The lesser of these reasons is that our company co-published the ebook edition. So that's my "full disclosure" statement. But the bigger reason is that I read the book and was utterly both charmed and blown away by it.

Ting Tiongco was a med student at the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine, the country's premiere med school, in the early 1970s. He interned at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), a government hospital and the lab hospital of UP. PGH caters to the poorest of the poor, which is saying a lot in a third-world country. Moreover, the 1970s was a historic time in Metro Manila--the era of the declaration of martial law and student demonstrations against a dictatorial regime. So, Tiongco's book is a memoir of his experiences pre- and during med school during those tumultuous times. 

But it is absolutely not a political book. I say this because I definitely shy away from any book that is strongly political. I like my fiction and I like my stories. And Ting Tiongco's book is replete with little funny, sad, and ultimately inspiring stories. 

In fact, it drew me in from his story about his battle to enter medical school. Tiongco didn't take up his pre-med in UP. He took it in Ateneo, another premiere university in the country. But back then, Ateneo didn't have a medical school. And students figuratively (or so I hope) killed to get into UP College of Med. So much so that Ateneo only allowed 5 students to graduate from their pre-med program. Because that is how many students from Ateneo the UP Med School accepts. And Tiongco tells a lot of campus humor that goes on prior to his entering UP.

The campus humor goes on to when he finally makes it to the College of Med. Tiongco came from a more old-world tradition, hence was always very gallant towards the women in his class. Until a rabid feminist cusses him very volubly for offering to pay for her lunch. After which, he says he felt relieved because no longer felt the strain on his meager budget whenever a female joined him for lunch.

Or his story about a classmate who felt so edified that her psychiatry patient kept giving her an apple everyday, until she found out that the patient really believed in the adage, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." Or the time when he revealed all his secrets to a catatonic patient who eventually recovers and gives him a knowing smile after. Or when he instituted the Kissing Rounds in the PGH and how the older doctors foiled his plan. Or when they had to treat a patient who had a broken penis. Yes, it was news to me that penises could get broken. 

UP PGH (img src)

But a doctor in the PGH who treats the poorest of the poor can't help but have stories that can break your heart. Such as the girl who was physically abused by her mother. Or the love story between a diplomat's daughter and a dying little boy. Or what happens the first time that a surgeon experiences a DOT (Death on the [Operating] Table). But the stories never turn maudlin. I think what helps is Tiongco's simple tone.

And that's the other thing that made me love this book: the way it was written. Ting Tiongco doesn't suffer from an affected grandiose style in writing. He tells it simply, effectively, beautifully, which makes the insights and the commentary he intersperses in the stories more poignant. 

Insights and commentary he has aplenty. Tiongco was what we might call a firecracker. He was a thinker and a leader. In his memoir he speaks about establishing the Gota de Sangre program, a blood donation program that he instituted. Initially, they went around campuses asking for donors. Eventually, they set it up with the College of Medicine itself, and he tells the story of the entire program, up until its unfortunate end. He also relates what happens in the first ever UP PGH strike, in which he played a major part, being one of the student leaders. At the time when the UP College of Med was rocked by a cheating scandal, he was there and was one of the signatories denouncing it. In fact, that story is further illustration of how the little decisions we make and little steps we take could turn into something amounting to a national scandal.

But the most inspiring thing I found about Tiongco and his book? His belief of what a College of Medicine should teach and how it should teach it, especially in a country such as ours. Of how much a tragedy it was that, in those times, 70-90% of the best educated doctors in the country end up not serving the country but moving to foreign lands. Of how doctors train in 3rd world conditions but still opt to practice in 1st world settings, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere. And yet, there are many patients, especially outside the urban areas, who have most need of doctors' help.

I have a soft spot for rebels, especially the passionate and eloquent sort. Stands to reason I've fallen a little in love with Ting Tiongco. His book ends with his graduation from the UP College of Med. But it has appendices of Dr. Tiongco's commencement speeches in colleges in Mindanao, which is where he grew up and where he decided to go back to after med school. And one can tell that his passion, eloquence, and beliefs did not end with his graduation from med school. It is alive and well judging from speeches as recent as 2006. 

I wish I could meet the man. (His print publisher, UP Press, tells me he's a very gracious person in real life.) And I wish, very dearly, that his book gets read by more people and even enters into mainstream consciousness. No, not just because we co-published it (though, really, that wouldn't be bad at all), but because the book deserves it, for its writing, for its stories. And for what it makes you feel after reading it, which is, in the simplest terms, happy.

*on Amazon - Surgeons Do Not Cry [Kindle edition]

*on Apple iBooks - Surgeons Do Not Cry by Ting Tiongco