The Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) leads Philippine hospitals in adapting and cascading the Trauma Life Support Malaysia (TLSM), a clinical workshop and structured training program designed to equip healthcare providers with essential skills to manage injured trauma patients, to all Filipino doctors.
This was made official with the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the Malaysia Society for the Care of Trauma (Mascot) and SPMC on October 13, 2026, at the Sotogrande Hotel in Davao City.
TLSM was jointly developed by the Ministry of Health Malaysia and Mascot. It is inspired by the US-initiated Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program, regarded worldwide as a gold standard in training for trauma care. The Ministry of Health Malaysia designed TLSM to fit the unique conditions of Asian countries.
TLSM also makes the program more affordable and accessible, as ATLS’s strict proprietary licensing makes it expensive and resource-heavy.
In Malaysia, ATLS costs approximately US$600 locally and US$1,500 internationally, while TLSM costs around RM200 (approximately US$48.87) per government personnel.
ATLS has historically focused on physicians and surgeons, while TLSM is designed to train all levels of emergency responders, including doctors, staff nurses, and paramedics.
At SPMC, taking the lead in its implementation are Institute of Emergency Trauma and Critical Care Director Dr. Benedict Edward Valdez, Department of Emergency Medicine chair Dr. Faith Gaerlan, with Dr. Ken Salvador, a trauma physician who has already trained in Malaysia, and Dr. Nica Ancheta, a specialist in critical care ultrasound who had her one-year fellowship in Malaysia.
Right after the signing, Malaysian specialists trained the trainers for the Philippines, made up of 20 participants from 16 hospitals nationwide, namely: UP-Philippine General Hospital, Pasig City General Hospital, East Avenue Medical Center, Baguio General Hospital, Region 2 Medical Center, Ospital ng Makati, Davao Regional Medical Center, Cagayan Valley
Regional Medical Center, Marikina Valley Medical Center, Capitol Medical Center, San Jose del Monte-Muzon Medical Center, Jose R. Reyes Memorial MC, Diliman Doctors Hospital, Northern Mindanao Medical Center, Corazon Locsin Montelibano MRH, and SPMC.
Forty providers, or those who will deliver the trauma life support curriculum, were also trained from 20 hospitals and emergency services nationwide, namely: Pasig City General Hospital (GH), East Avenue Medical Center (MC), Baguio GH, Region 2 TMC, UP-PGH, Jose R. Reyes Memorial MC, Jose B. Lingad Memorial GH, Davao Doctors Hospital, Corazon Locsin Montelibano MRH, NMMC, Prime Hospital and Medical Center, Manila Doctors, Batangas MC, SPMC, DOH-HEMB, SPMC-Hedmu, DCV Industrial Controls Enterprises, BLGU-Manuel Guianga, Emergency Medical Serviecs CDRRMO-Central 911, and Ospital Ng Makati.
“Before this, Malaysia and the Philippines have already collaborated in trauma physician fellowship and critical care ultrasound for emergencies subspecialization, where we were able to send our doctors to train, and now we have our own subspecialization training under the Department of Emergency Medicine in SPMC,” Dr. Valdez said.