CEBU CITY – The Philippine Heart Association (PHA) has given the green light to 12 Boholano cardiologists to establish the PHA-Bohol chapter.

The Bohol chapter was formally launched on Sunday, Sept. 21, at the Metro Centre Hotel in Tagbilaran City, Bohol. This is PHA’s 14th and youngest chapter.

PHA National President Dr. Walid Amil inducted Dr. Jane Regner-Ramiro; her husband, Dr. Ronald Ramiro, a surgeon, and daughter, Dr. Valerie Ramiro, who is also one of the PHA-Bohol inductees.

Jane serves as the chapter’s president with Dr. Kazan Benigno as vice president. The rest of the PHA-Bohol officials and members were sworn in by Jane.

“Given the track record of these Boholanons as constant supporters of the PHA national and Cebu chapter, the immediate need to close the geographic gap between Cebu and Bohol and to address the high cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence in Bohol, there could never be a better time for the break away. PHA Bohol is ripe for change,” Amil said.

Amil added the creation of the Bohol chapter aligned with the PHA national’s vision to strengthen local engagement to bring the PHA closer to the grassroots so that every city in the Philippines – from the rolling hills of Batanes to the beaches of Tawi-Tawi – will have their own cardiologist.

The PHA noted cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are global health problem. They are the No. 1 causes of mortality in the Philippines, in Region 7, and in Bohol.

“With only about 2,500 cardiovascular specialists nationwide—roughly we have only one heart doctor for every 44,000 Filipinos—the need to strengthen local presence is urgent,” Amil said.

Amil is the first Mindanaoan and Muslim to lead the national body. Based in Zamboanga City, Amil is no stranger to pioneering efforts, having founded the PHA-ZamBaSuTa (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi) chapter in 2014. He is the seventh chapter member to rise to the presidency of the PHA National, which now has 14 chapters across the country.

Jane shaped Bohol’s cardiology landscape.

A mentor, the late Dr. Homobono “HB” Calleja, one of local cardiology’s icons and the father of Philippine echocardiography, egged her early on to go back home rather than stay in Manila.

“Return to Bohol and plant and cultivate the seeds of the cardiology landscape there,” Calleja said.

That challenge which became a calling has defined Jane’s profession and vocation as a cardiologist-echocardiographer. She was born and raised in La Carlota, Negros Occidental.

Upon her return to Bohol in 1991, she found the province without even the most basic tools and facilities—no echocardiogram, no electrolyte testing, but only improvised equipment and no radiologists.

“We had almost nothing, so we had to build everything ourselves. We bought the first treadmill and echo machine, trained our staff, and made use of what little we had. It was frustrating, but it also pushed me to keep going,” she said.