The history of the Department of Orthopedics of the Southern Philippines Medical Center dates back as early as the establishment of the hospital itself. If there is just one difference, it is the fact that there was no formally trained Orthopedic Surgeon to do the orthopedic cases back then and the hospital lack the necessary equipments to do them. The cases admitted in the then Davao General Hospital, which was later renamed Davao Regional Medical and Training Center in 1957, were managed by general surgeons who had some exposure in fracture care during their residency training.

        In the year 1966, the then Davao Regional Medical and Training Center which was then located along Quirino Avenue, acquired a new building along J.P Laurel Avenue. It was also this year that marked a turning point in orthopedic care in this part of the country. Seeing the need of an orthopedic specialist in Davao, Dr. Manuel Babao, the hospital director that time invited Dr Pedro A Velasco to become a part of the medical staff of DRMTC. Dr Velasco, who was at that time fresh from his residency in the National Orthopedic Hospital came to Davao and became the first ever formally trained orthopedic surgeon to work in the hospital. He eventually headed the Section of Orthopedics under the Department of Surgery. Surgical residents are assigned in rotation under Dr. Velasco to learn the rudiments of orthopedic and fracture care but there was no formal training program planned at that time solely for orthopedic residency training. Dr. Velasco was soon joined by Dr. Manolo Palabyab, also from National Orthopedic Hospital in 19__ who came to Davao as part of the dispersal program of his Orthopedic Residency Training. Dr. Velasco and Dr. Palabyab together became the “tag-team” of the Orthopedics section, teaching the residents at the same time doing their private practice on the side. They did all the orthopedic cases referred to them ranging from trauma to complex cases as joint replacements, spine and tumor cases. But even with the designation of DRMTC to Davao Medical Center in 1971, Orthopedics remained a section under the Department of Surgery.

         It was in April of 1984 with the arrival of Dr. Espiridion Reyes from his fellowship in England, that the idea of establishing a Department of Orthopedics was conceptualized. With a vision to train future orthopedic surgeons who will be practicing in Mindanao, Dr Reyes together with the help of Dr. Velasco and Dr. Palabyab formulated a Training Program patterned after the Training Rules and Policies of Philippine General Hospital and Philippine Orthopedic Center. It included a 5- year staff development program with a vision of increasing not just the number of consultants in Davao City but also increasing the subspecialties and capabilities of these consultants. The section of orthopedics started accepting Orthopedic Residents who will look after orthopedic cases admitted in the wards. For next few years, these consultants paved the way for the inception what will eventually become the Department of Orthopedic with acquisition of equipment, the development of the future orthopedic ward and further concretizing the Training Program Policies of the department. Another orthopedic surgeon in the person of Dr. Henry Chua, who used to practice in a private hospital  joined the DMC Orthopedic Medical Staff shortly after and was soon followed by Dr. Samson Peli.

         As early as 1987, the Department of Orthopedics already applied for accreditation with the Philippine Board of Orthopedics but it was only in 1989 that the Department was visited by the Philippine Board of Orthopedics. It took another 2 years for the department to be finally granted a temporary annual accreditation by the PBO in 1991. It was also in 1991 that the DMC-Orthopedics reaped the fruits of its being a department with the graduation of its very first residents, Dr. Daniel Yap soon followed by Dr. Lino Aranjuez. For seven years from 1991 to 1998, the Department was visited yearly by the PBO and was just given a yearly temporary accreditation. Yet despite the challenge, the department continued to attract residents willing to train in the field of orthopedics as far north as Luzon. In 1994, the Department of Orthopedics produced its very first Fellow in the PBO with the passing of Dr. Roberto Deniega in the Diplomate examination of that year. Dr. Deniega eventually went to do Fellowship in Hand Surgery at the UP-PGH and joined the Consultant staff of the Department of Orthopedics of DMC making him the first DMC-Ortho Alumnus to become a part of the consultant staff of his alma mater.

     During its infancy stage as an accredited orthopedic training institution, the DMC-Orthopedic Department caught the attention of two expatriates who were already at that time doing well practicing orthopedics in the United States. One of them is a native of Davao City in the person of Dr, Edward VA Lim and the other one is Dr. Ron Gracilla, a graduate of UST-College of Medicine but had his residency in Orthopedic Surgery in the States. They were instrumental in the donation of a lot of reading materials in the form of books, slides, and journals which greatly enhanced the learning experience of the residents. They also gave lectures whenever they can when thy visit the Davao City. The first set of orthopedic power instruments came from Dr. Gracilla. Both eventually were given the titles of Honorary Consultant of the department.

        Finally, with the continued improvement in the training program and equipments in the Department of orthopedics of DMC, it was awarded a full 4 year accreditation by the PBO on January 1, 1999.

        In 2000, a research paper done by Dr. Noel Rex Penaranda, Dr. Hilario Diaz, Dr. Espiridion Reyes and Dr. Ron Gracilla on the treatment of femoral shaft fractures in children with a portable traction-spica device was published in the Societe Internationale Chirurgique Orthopedique et Traumatologique (SICOT) Journal making it the first research paper done in DMC-Department of orthopedics to be considered for international publication.

          Other consultants who were graduates of other training institutions eventually joined the staff in the following years, with a majority of them having trainings in orthopedic subspecialties abroad. In September of 2002, Surgical Implant Generation Network (SIGN), a non-governmental, non-profit organization which aim to equate fracture care in the third world countries with that of developed countries, came to the Philippines and tapped the Department of Orthopedics of Davao Medical Center to be the pilot program in the country. This provided the patients low-cost nails which are of better quality than the nails that are used commonly y the residents of the department. The DMC SIGN Program eventually became the training ground for the SIGN programs which eventually were established in UP –PGH, Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRMMC), Ramiro Hospital in Ozamiz City and recently, the Corazon Locsin Memorial Medical Center in Bacolod City. In 2005, the DMC SIGN Program was designated as International SIGN- Kiwanis Surgery Center. Dr. Lewis Zirkle, the Founder of SIGN, was made an Honorary Consultant of the Department

      The department has already produced 18 graduates since its becoming an accredited training institution with most of the graduates successfully passing the Diplomate Board Examination given by the PBO.

      In 2005, Dr. Hilario Diaz was  appointed Chairman of the department. This was again another milestone for the department as Dr Diaz himself was a graduate of  DMC Orthopedics Training Program in 1997 thus making him the first DMC Orthopedics Alumnus to Head the department. Also in the same year, the department started accepting graduates of Foreign Medical Schools who want to train in the institution. Dr. Ray Hendry, an Indonesian, was the first foreign resident in the medical staff. He was soon followed by Dr. Romy Sutrisna, another Indonesian and Dr. Bhaskar Raj Pant, a Nepalese in the next two years following.

      As of the recent PBO accreditation done last February 2007, the Davao Medical Center was ranked among the top orthopedic training institutions in the country with a grade of 88% and is considered as one model program for emulation by other hospitals